26 



The material accessible for examination now comprises the 

 Moths and the Butterflies of the Edwards, the Angus and the 

 Elliott Collections, aggregating 70,000 specimens. 



The cataloguing of the Beetles, Bees, Flies, etc., from the 

 Edwards, Elliott, Angus, Weber and Nicholas Collections, is pro- 

 gressing steadily, following which the material will be available for 

 reference. It is estimated that 280,000 objects yet remain to be 

 numbered and catalogued. It is evident that the growth of this 

 department will soon require the assignment of a separate hall 

 for its display. 



Mrs. William H. Bradford very generously donated the collec- 

 tions of insects and books gathered by her son, George Dexter 

 Bradford, deceased ; the collection is important, numbering 5000 

 objects, many of which are new to the Museum collections. 



A very welcome addition to the collection was presented by Mr. 

 Francis Child Nicholas, consisting of selected specimens from 

 Honduras, Jamaica and the United States of Colombia, embracing 

 among other material large and complete nests of white ants and 

 wasps, from Jamaica. 



Our thanks are also due to Mr. William Schaus, to whom we 

 have been indebted in the past, for a gift of 700 butterflies from 

 the Old World and South America ; most of this material was 

 previously unrepresented in the collections. 



Library. — The Librarian, Mr. A. Woodward, reports acces- 

 sions equaling 2064 volumes, making the total of volumes now 

 in the Library 32,502. 



Very gratifying relations have been established with a number 

 of foreign societies, through which they have been added to our 

 exchange list during the year. The number of accessions is 

 greatly in excess of that of any previous year, and the library 

 shelves are now full. The completion of the West Wing, how- 

 ever, will relieve this congestion, and provide room for future 

 expansion. A very noticeable increase is apparent in the number 

 of applications for works of references, and this feature has made 

 more manifest the need of money to procure the many important 

 works still unrepresented in the Library. 



