TEE NEW YOBK BOTANIGAL GABDEN. 



173 



The second fioor is given over to an exhibit of types of all of the 

 more important families and tribes of plants, from the simplest and 

 most minute, to the highest and most complex. Specimens, models, 

 fruits, seeds, drawings and photographs are used to bring the principal 

 facts clearly before the observer. A set o£ swinging frames running 

 parallel to the cases containing the types of the flora of the world, are 

 nsed to display specimens of the plants found within a himdred miles 

 of New York City. A number of special microscopes have been con- 

 structed for the purpose of forming a perfect exhibit, which will enable 

 the visitor to see some of the more salient features in the minute 

 structure of some of the plants in the cases. 



The third fioor contains the library, herbarium and laboratories. 

 The library occupies a stack room extending to the rear of the middle 

 of the building, two small storerooms and a large circular reading- 

 room, under the illuminated dome. Ilere are assembled the botanical 



The Museum. 



books of Columbia University, as well as those accumulated by the 

 Garden, now numbering more than eight thousand volumes, with no 

 reckoning of unbound separates and pamphlets. The collection of 

 botanieal periodicals is nearly complete, and the library is especially 

 rich in literature concerning the mosses, ferns, and the flora of IsTorth 

 and South America. 



The main herbarium occupies a room in the east wing, eighty-five 

 by forty-seven feet, and connected with it are storerooms and offices 

 adequate to its administration. Windows on all sides of the main 

 room and skylights give ample illumination. The number of mounted 

 specimens 011 the shelves is not less than three quarters of a million, 

 including the herbarium of Columbia University, which is deposited 

 here in accordance with the agreement between the two institutions. 

 The collection is especially rich in fungi, embracing the collections of 

 Ellis and other eminent mycologists. A large amount of material of 



