44 Report of the President 



the growth of the Local Collection now under the custody of 

 the New York Entomological Society, due to the continued 

 cordial relations between the Society and the Museum. The 

 accessions by gift to this collection are only an imperfect 

 indication of the work the Society has done, as members have 

 given liberally of their time and experience in naming speci- 

 mens and working out other scientific problems in connection 

 with the insect fauna of the vicinity of New York City. In 

 addition, it has been the privilege of the Museum to aid in the 

 work of the local entomologists by furnishing a much appreci- 

 ated "home" on the north side of the exhibition hall and by 

 the loan of literature and specimens for their studies. 



The Museum itself has added to the Local Collection from 

 the Newcomb purchase and by numerous field trips within fifty 

 miles of New York City. A valuable supplement to the 

 specimens of local insects is a collection of plants and notes 

 concerning the feeding habits of insects, which has been given 

 by Dr. E. B. Southwick. It is proposed to install this collec- 

 tion in Dr. Lutz's office where it will be available and con- 

 venient to any student who wishes to determine what plant it is 

 upon which he has found an insect, what other insects feed 

 upon that plant or what other plants that insect feeds upon. 

 The largest additions to the general insect collection have been 

 the Tower collection of Mexican insects, which is deposited 

 with the Museum, and the Sauter collection from Sumatra. 

 Negotiations have been completed for the purchase of the 

 Williston collection of tropical American Diptera. By securing 

 this collection the Museum will become an important center of 

 dipterology, as it already has many types in this order. 



The work of getting the general collection of insects into 

 shape is making definite progress, thanks to the additional 

 assistants who have been available during the past few months. 

 The Hymenoptera, Diptera and Orthoptera have been 

 arranged as far as is profitable in view of the fact that for the 

 most part they are uncatalogued and in great part unidentified ; 

 the other orders are not yet arranged even in this preliminary 

 way. About twenty thousand specimens have been catalogued. 

 A large number of identifications has been made, chiefly by 

 outside assistance. This latter task is necessarily slow, as 



