Report of the President. 25 



Dr. William Morton Wheeler. This gift raises our collection 

 of Diptera to the first rank of scientific importance. 



A valuable collection of Gall Insects ( Cyiripidce), contain- 

 ing several thousand specimens and many types, has been 

 donated by Mrs. Margaret Bassett. 



Mr. Samuel V. Hoffman has generously continued the work 

 begun by his father in the Black Mountains and made it pos- 

 sible fur the Curator to spend seven weeks in this region, 

 extending the work commenced in 1900. Mr. Hoffman has 

 contributed also towards the purchase of Lepidoptera. 



Mr. Beutenmiiller's publications are referred to in another 

 part of this report. 



Department of Invertebrate Zoology. — During the past 

 year all the material in the department has been thoroughly 

 overhauled, classified and catalogued,, and duplicate specimens 

 set aside for exchange and for the use of the public schools. 

 Considerable progress has been made in the installation of 

 specimens for exhibition. Thirty compound microscopes are 

 mounted in the cases so as to show typical forms of the Pro- 

 tozoa, which are too small to be seen by the naked eye. For 

 the material used in this exhibit the Museum is indebted 

 to Professor Gary N. Calkins. Dr. Dahlgren has prepared a 

 number of beautiful models of Radiolarians, Foraminifera, 

 Planarians, Nemerteans, Hydroids, and of the Oyster and 

 Quahog Clam. Many of the specimens in the fine collection 

 of Japanese glass-rope sponges, secured for the Museum by 

 Professor Bashford Dean, have been bleached and mounted. 

 A fine large specimen of the Giant Spider Crab of Japan has 

 been mounted and placed on the south wall of the Synoptic 

 Hall. Small biological collections, representing geographical 

 variation, gynandromorphism and the life-history of the boll- 

 weevil, have been put on exhibition, and others are in course 

 of preparation. 



The following donations to the department are especially 

 noteworthy: The department has acquired a specimen of a 

 very rare Selachian, taken at a depth of five hundred fathoms 

 in the Japan Sea. Four specimens of a rare form of some 



