38 Report of the President 



GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE MUSEUM 



Frederic A. Lucas, Director 



It may be again said that, while war conditions have affected 

 the work of the Museum, satisfactory progress has been made 

 in the care and installation of the collections, in research and 

 in publication, detailed accounts of which may be found in the 

 reports of the various departments. 



The sales of popular publications were better than for some 



time past, due partly to the fact that many of the returning 



soldiers have visited the Museum, as well as 



Popular many "out-of-town" visitors. There were sold 



Publications \ ,**■■■"* , , 



at the sergeants desks 3,610 copies of the 



General Guide; 1,770 Handbooks; 2,478 Leaflets; and 1,095 

 reprints, the total of these sales being 8,953 copies. In addi- 

 tion, many publications have been sold through the Registrar's 

 office and the Library, especially Handbooks, which are used to 

 a considerable extent as text-books and works of reference. 



A new edition of the Guide, the fifth in recent years, was 

 brought out in January, a Guide Leaflet on "Insects and Dis- 

 ease" in June, and a Handbook on the "Fishes of the Vicinity 

 of New York City" in December, while the close of the year 

 finds several handbooks and leaflets nearly ready for the 

 printer. 



A most important step was taken by the Museum in under- 

 taking to print its scientific papers, and with this end in view 

 there have been installed a Whitlock Premier 

 Printing and cylinder press with 33 x 45 inch bed, capable of 

 2,200 impressions per hour; a Monotype casting 

 machine with lead, rule and display type attachments; and a 

 D.D. composing machine. 



Not including the various galleys of matter for the scientific 

 papers, there have been printed during the year a Handbook of 



