12 Forty-fifth Report on tee 



the collections which had been made by the writer since 1856 

 and arranged in two buildings of his own, were transferred to 

 the State Hall, and, so far as space permitted, were arranged in 

 the drawers just mentioned. Besides the collections filling these 

 drawers there are a large number of boxes (at least 400) still 

 remaining, from which the specimens have never been unpacked, 

 and are therefore quite inaccessible for study or for any intelli- 

 gent use. 



All this property whether arranged in drawers or stored 

 in boxes belongs to the State Museum, and forms a part of its 

 collections, though disposed in a building at considerable distance 

 from the Museum proper. Owing to this condition we labor 

 under many disadvantages, for it is not possible, while occupying 

 temporary quarters to fit up cases, arrange and dispose of collec- 

 tions as if we were in permanent occupancy. The Museum and 

 the State suffers great loss from this condition, for we are con- 

 stantly working under the disadvantage which necessitates a 

 temporary arrangement of all our material, and we are often com- 

 pelled to make room for new material by displacing collections 

 already in use, and packing them in boxes, thus constantly 

 increasing the amount of inaccessible material. 



In 1883 it was anticipated that the proposed new quarters 

 could be occupied in two or three years at the utmost ; more than 

 seven years have already elapsed and we have no assurance, nor 

 even any prospect of alleviation from the present unfortunate 

 condition. 



The report of the State Geologist herewith communicated 

 will show the nature and extent of the work done in these 

 departments, and the condition of the printing on volume VIII, 

 part I and the progress made in the second part of the same 

 work, which has extended far beyond what could possibly have 

 been foreseen in the outset. The need of more space for the 

 increasing collections in these departments has already been 

 stated, and we need at this time the space of fully 500 additional 

 drawers which can only be had by packing and storing collections 

 already arranged. The present occupancy of drawers is greater 

 than needed for the work in progress, but by packing away fche 

 specimens in boxes they are made inaccessible for the purpose of 

 selecting specimens for school collections which we are yearly 



