Report of the President 55 



the Museum, it has grown so steadily that it bids fair soon to 

 rival the much older, similar departments in other great 

 museums. The department has been fortunate in having at 

 its disposal the Cleveland H. Dodge Fund, which has enabled 

 it to add to its collections many rare and desirable fishes as 

 these have been offered to the Museum. 



We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the New 

 York Zoological Society, which has provided the department 

 with many specimens of both fishes and reptiles. 



The event of the year was the progress made on the 

 exhibits. This has taken two directions: first, the enlarging 

 of the synoptic series, the series containing examples of the 

 various families of fishes, amphibians and reptiles; and second, 

 the preparation of habitat groups. In the synoptic series, a 

 total of 177 specimens were added to the exhibits. In addition 

 to these, three habitat groups, two of fishes and one of the 

 Giant Salamander, were opened to the public. These groups 

 afford an opportunity for displaying the creatures in their 

 various activities, such as securing food, escaping enemies, 

 building nests, etc., besides lending a touch of nature, often of 

 great beauty in color and artistic detail, to the exhibition hall. 



Existing Fishes. — The synoptic exhibit in the Recent 

 Fish Hall was increased during the year by the addition of 85 

 specimens. These are mounts, except in those cases where 

 the poor condition of the original, or the necessity of repre- 

 senting it on a larger scale, has made desirable the preparation 

 of a model. Among the specimens worthy of special mention 

 are several large fishes hung on the walls above the cases, 

 including two Sea Sunfish (Mo/a mo/a), one of them over ten 

 feet in length and supposed to be of record size, a six-foot 

 Arapaima from the Amazon River, two nine-foot Alligator 

 Gars, a beautifully mounted Jewfish and two magnificent 

 Sailfishes. 



Early in the year, the department completed and opened 

 to the public the Paddlefish Group, the first of a series of 

 groups planned for the fish exhibit. This represents a school 

 of that singular sturgeon, the paddlefish, swinging around 

 toward a fisherman's seine in one of the smaller lakes of the 



