Report of the President 6j 



others, in the educational groups, are being secured. The 

 assistance of Mr. Walter F. Webb of Rochester (a well- 

 known shell collector in the Philippine archipelago) has been 

 promised for the composition of four shell-groups, and pre- 

 liminary steps have been taken to obtain the necessary data 

 and raw material for their construction. A valuable purchase 

 of West Coast shells has been made, though Curator Gratacap 

 is confident it will require a supplementary purchase properly 

 to complete it; the work on the study collection was resumed, 

 and, with interruptions, is being pursued. The development 

 of the study collection and the revision of the nomenclature 

 in the large series of exhibited specimens are, and will be for 

 a long time, the most important tasks for the Curator to 

 consider. 



The changes in the staff of this division have retarded our 

 progress, which nevertheless has been marked. Mr. Fisk's 

 illness led to his permanent retirement, and his place was 

 taken by Dr. Willard G. Van Name, formerly zoologist 

 of the New York State Museum at Albany. The death of 

 Mr. Ignaz Matausch and the resignation of Mr. Edward 

 Mueller after a long illness crippled the work of the prepara- 

 tion staff; their places have been filled by Mr. Chris E. Olsen 

 and Mr. M. Nishimura, who have capably continued the work 

 on the Tide Pool Group, so that this notable addition to the 

 ecological series in the Darwin Hall will be speedily completed. 



Among the new models recently installed are the Phasco- 



losoma head, the complicated Volvox 



Sd n Dam?n e Hali rateS colon y> Clathrulina elegans, Monosiga 



globosa, Elatomma juniperina, and five 



examples of pathogenic Protozoa. Others are approaching 



completion. 



The exhibit of Domesticated Pigeons in the Darwin Series 

 has been amplified by a series of striking varieties secured by 

 Director Lucas. The reorganization of the cases has been 

 begun, new labels have been prepared, and the entire series 

 of exhibits has been carefully examined and cleaned. It has 

 been a source of great satisfaction that the Darwin Hall has 



