Report of the President 35 



open cases into cabinets where it is available to the public on 

 request, and the Hoffman Collection of Butterflies has been 

 withdrawn from exhibition because many of the beautiful 

 specimens were deteriorating in the strong light. It has been 

 decided to make this the Hall of Local Insects and Insect 

 Biology. 



One side of the hall has been converted into a room where 

 visitors are given every facility for serious study of the local 

 insects. The remaining space is devoted to exhibits which 

 aim to give a fairly thorough course in theoretical and applied 

 entomology. The displays are being arranged according to 

 problems rather than according to taxonomic divisions. For 

 example, one case is being devoted to household insects, 

 another to aquatic insects, one to the geographical distribu- 

 tion of insects, and so on. In the section concerned with 

 social insects, a group of "fungus growing ants" has been 

 installed, and a large group of "mound building ants" is 

 under construction. This is merely applying to insects the 

 method long used with mammals and birds, namely, that of 

 putting the animals on exhibition in natural positions instead 

 of mounting them on pins. 



The New York Entomological Society, with the coopera- 

 tion of Dr. Lutz, has taken an especial interest in the devel- 

 opment of the collection of local insects. This collection 

 has been placed in the custody of the Society and has been 

 installed in a section of the Hall of Local Insects, which is 

 also used by the Society for its meetings, — an arrangement 

 that is mutually advantageous. 



The general insect collections have been temporarily con- 

 tinued in charge of Mr. Beutenmiiller. During the year 2,800 

 specimens of Lepidoptera and over 1,200 insects of other 

 orders have been mounted. There are still on hand about 

 20,000 unmounted specimens of Lepidoptera. The entire col- 

 lection of colored-winged moths has been arranged and 

 labeled. This collection is an exceedingly valuable one, and 

 is the best extant so far as North American species are con- 

 cerned. 



On account of the extensive reorganization of this depart- 

 ment, the scientific work has been more or less interrupted, 



