Report of the President. 2 3 



forgotten, however, and it is our purpose to so plan our work 

 that all will finally receive proper treatment. 



The Department of Invertebrate Zoology was established 

 two years ago, and since that time the invertebrate collections 

 of the Museum have been gotten together; new material has 

 been added, and the exhibit in the south-east hall of the 

 ground floor will soon be open to the public. 



Professor William Morton Wheeler, at one time Director of 

 the Public Museum at Milwaukee, and a scientist of high 

 standing, will soon take charge of this department. 



For a long time we have felt the need of providing exhibits 

 to illustrate in a comparative way the structure of the human 

 body, i. e., collections that will illustrate the resemblances 

 and differences between man and the lower animals, and that 

 will illustrate also the anatomical differences between the 

 various races of man. We should also have material to illus- 

 trate the development and the functional activity of the 

 special sense organs. There is a constant demand for such 

 collections on the part of teachers, and we think no one ques- 

 tions their high educational value. Now that Professor 

 Tower, a well-known physiologist, has taken a place on our 

 scientific staff, and Professor Wheeler will soon be with us, it 

 seems expedient to assign temporarily, until proper space can 

 be found elsewhere, the south-west room on the main floor to 

 collections of this nature. 



The most important accession of invertebrate animals is a 

 collection of ccelenterates. This collection consists of about 

 200 specimens of West Indian corals, Actinians and Alcyonar- 

 ians, collected by Dr. Duerden in Jamaica, and includes many 

 co-types of species described by him in various papers. 



All the ccelenterates have been worked over by Dr. Duerden, 

 and many of the specimens named and mounted with a view to 

 illustrate their general biological characteristic's. Arrange- 

 ments have been made for several additions, including a col- 

 lection of Beaufort Actinians from Dr. J. J. Hamaker, a 

 collection of Porto Rican corals, identified by T. Wayland 

 Vaughan for the U. S. F. C, and specimens of ccelenterates 

 from Woods Hole. 



