26 Report of the President. 



of the corals were donated by Professor Whitfield. Through 

 Commissioner George M. Bowers, a number of Hawaiian 

 fishes were received, and Dr. Joseph Thompson, U. S. N., 

 donated a collection of fishes from Dry Tortugas. The 

 New York Zoological Society donated several fine speci- 

 mens of snakes, which have been mounted for exhibition. 

 From Dr. C. H. Eigenmann were received representatives of 

 all but one of the species of cave vertebrates of the United 

 States. Several insect preparations, representing metamor- 

 phoses, and typical forms for the synoptic collection, were 

 purchased from the Kny-Scheerer Co. A fine collection of 

 different species of mosquitoes, with their larvae and pupae, 

 was purchased as a preliminary step toward installing a collec- 

 tion to illustrate the origin of malaria. 



By far the most important work entrusted to and accom- 

 plished by the department was that of Mr. Sherwood, who 

 has succeeded in putting the relations of the Museum to the 

 public schools of the city on a firm scientific and pedagogical 

 basis. The collections of specimens and the careful outlines 

 of hints for the teachers in their use of the collections are an 

 enormous advance on all former attempts of the Museum in 

 this direction. To this fact the appreciation of the teachers 

 is an eloquant witness. From all parts of the city have been 

 received numerous requests from teachers for material to aid 

 them in their nature-study work. 



To meet these requests we have made up from our duplicate 

 specimens study collections of invertebrates and birds, which 

 are loaned for short periods to any school in the city making 

 application for them. For this work the Department of 

 Entomology has prepared 35 cases of insects, the Depart- 

 ment of Mineralogy and Conchology 25 sets of mollusk shells 

 and 20 sets of minerals, the Department of Mammalogy and 

 Ornithology 20 sets of birds, the Department of Archaeology 

 and Ethnology 5 sets of anthropological implements. These 

 collections have been turned over to the Department of 

 Invertebrate Zoology, and, with the 80 sets of invertebrates 

 prepared from our own specimens, make a total of 175 collec- 

 tions which are available as loans to the schools. Each species 



