2 2 Report of the P 7' e si dent. 



Fund. An unusually fine boulder, bearing opal, has been re- 

 ceived through the generosity of Mr. George S. Bowdoin. 



Progress has been made in cataloguing the minerals and in 

 revising the shell collections. 



During the summer the Curator visited Iceland and secured 

 minerals, insects, mollusks and other material for the Museum. 



Department of Invertebrate Zoology. — The opening of 

 the East Mammal Hall and the North Corridor has made it 

 possible to remove the reptile and fish collections from the 

 Synoptic Hall and to give them space for growth and consistent 

 development. Mr. Miner has made progress in an attractive 

 installation of the fishes, and the reptile collection has been 

 improved by the addition of fine groups of the Painted Turtle 

 and Florida Rattlesnake. A group of Flying Lizards is now 

 being prepared. 



Dr. B. E. Dahlgren, who early in the year was appointed 

 an Assistant Curator, has spent most of his time working on 

 a series of models representing the structure of the malarial 

 mosquito and the stages of the malarial plasmodia in the 

 human blood corpuscle. Dr. L. W. Williams has made a fine 

 large model of the Common Squid. 



The attractiveness and educational value of the Jesup Col- 

 lection of North American Woods, at present in the custody 

 of this department, have been increased by placing in the cases 

 with some of the specimens artificial sprays showing the foli- 

 age, flower and fruit of the tree in natural size and color. 

 The entire Magnolia Family has been reinstalled with such 

 good results that a similar treatment will be applied to the re- 

 mainder of the Wood Collection. 



In all, twenty-five papers, based on the material in the 

 department, have been published. Of these, sixteen were by 

 the Curator, one by Mr. Miner, four by Professor T. D. A. 

 Cockerell, and one each by Messrs. James A. G. Rehn, J. F. 

 McClendon, Nathan Banks and Charles T. Brues. 



Early in the year Dr. N. L. Britton, Director of the New 

 York Botanical Garden, organized an expedition to Culebra 



