20 Report of the President. 



trating the life-history and the food plants of the various spe- 

 cies, and will serve to stimulate the interest of visitors, and also 

 to invest the collection with a greater value for teachers and 

 students. 



The collection of beetles has been revised and the large and 

 unique specimens selected for exhibition. The specimens which 

 are too minute to be easily examined will be accompanied by 

 outline drawings, showing the structural characters of the species. 



Library. — The librarian reports accessions during the year 

 equal to 5839 volumes. The library now contains 41,691 

 volumes, including the recently acquired Marcou Library. The 

 library is in great need of funds for binding periodicals, and for 

 the purchase of a large number of standard works of reference 

 in various departments of science. 



Department of Public Instruction. — I note with great pleas- 

 ure the increasing interest manifested by our citizens in the work of 

 the Department of Public Instruction. Prof. Albert S. Bickmore, 

 in charge of this branch of the Museum's work, reports that the 

 twenty lectures to the Teachers of the Public Schools, delivered by 

 him under the auspices of the State Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, had an attendance of more than 17,000 persons. 

 Over 8000 persons attended his Spring and Autumn Courses to 

 Members of the Museum, and the free lectures to the public, 

 given by him on holidays, were attended by nearly 4000 persons. 



The popularity of the lectures delivered at the Museum to the 

 Teachers of the Public Schools is evinced in the request from the 

 Board of Education, through Dr. Henry M. Leipziger, Superin- 

 tendent of Lectures, for duplicates of the slides and text of 

 these lectures, for incorporation in the free courses to the public. 

 A series of these lectures were given on Tuesday evenings at the 

 Museum, the attendance being so great that on each occasion 

 several hundred persons were unable to gain admission. 



Lectures to the Teachers of the Public Schools by 



Prof. Albert S. Bickmore. 



Spring Course. 



Lecture — West Indies — The Lesser Antilles. 



" — Colorado River and its Canons. 



" — Southern California. 



" — Washington and Oregon. 



" — British Columbia. 



