30 Report of the President. 



Gratacap, the Curator of Mineralogy. He reports that, on 

 account of the devotion of the central hall on the fourth floor 

 of the Museum to the Bement collection of minerals, the 

 shells formerly exhibited there were removed to the fifth 

 floor, and most of them were placed in drawers for storage. 

 The present condition of the conchological collection empha- 

 sizes in very marked manner the need of a much larger hall 

 for its appropriate exhibition. The famous Binney and Bland 

 collection of American land shells, for instance, which con- 

 tains many type specimens, is necessarily kept in storage 

 drawers from lack of space for displaying it. 



The work done on the shell collection has included the 

 preparation and placing of more than 2,000 individual labels 

 in addition to maps, photographs and diagrams. The experi- 

 ment is being tried of placing on exhibition aquaria showing 

 some of the more familiar molluscs in their natural surround- 

 ings. The popularity of this feature of the Hall of Conchology 

 is marked, and indicates the desirability of .increasing the 

 number of such exhibits. On account of the number of type 

 specimens which it contains, the Binney and Bland collection 

 of land shells was made the subject of an extended article 

 by the Curator, which was published in the Museum Bulletin, 

 with five maps showing distribution. 



The department is indebted to Mr. Frederick A. Constable 

 for a valuable accession to its collections, consisting of about 

 18,000 specimens, representing about 4,000 species. The same 

 gentleman has given to the Library a large number of much- 

 needed works on conchology. 



North American Forestry. — The chief event in the his- 

 tory of the Jesup collection of North American Forestry was 

 the addition of twenty-one water-color paintings by Mrs. C. S. 

 Sargent to the series illustrative of leaves, flowers and fruits, 

 which has been prepared at the expense of your President. 



Publications. — In the line of publications the scientific 

 staff of the Museum has been very active during the past year 



