

■*V 



REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 



Albany, January, .1874. 



To the Honorable the Board of Regents of the University of 

 the State of New YorJc : 



Gentlemen — 



It becomes my duty to present to you the Annual Report 

 upon the condition of the collections of the Museum of 

 Natural History ; the additions and donations thereto, and 

 the work done in the institution during the past year. 



The collections in the various departments are in good order, 

 and to a large extent satisfactorily arranged ; though we are 

 greatly in want of space for the proper exhibition of the col- 

 lections in some of the classes. The re-arrangement of the 

 shelving and cases on the second floor, during the past year, 

 has given to the collections in mineralogy, and to those of 

 European and American post-palaeozoic palaeontology, better 

 accommodation ; and we have nothing to desire in that direction 

 for the present. We need, however, greater space for the 

 exhibition of New York Palceozoic Fossils ; and likewise in 

 the Zoological department, especially for the marine and 

 fresb -water shells and other invertebrata. 



I feel it my duty to again call your attention to the want of 

 proper working rooms, as among the first requisites for a 

 Museum of this kind. The requirement to distribute the 

 materials of large collections of fossils and minerals among 

 the educational institutions of the State involves the necessity 

 of spacious working rooms, in order to perform the work 

 properly and with any reasonable degreee of expedition. 



Through the kindness of Mr. T. L. Harison, Secretary of the 

 State Agricultural Society, we have been permitted to occupy 



