5 



the labelling can be extended to the other rooms and the other 

 classes of the animal kingdom. 



I can only repeat what has been stated in former reports, that 

 the increase of the classes in Geology and Zoology has been such 

 as to render it desirable that the Geological Department should be 

 accommodated in new quarters to allow for the expansion of the 

 Zoological Department. The Geological Department could be 

 housed in the southwest corner piece of the Museum, where large 

 lecture-rooms might also be provided for the use of the Natural 

 History Department. But there seems at present no probability 

 of building such an addition to our building, which would require 

 $100,000 for its erection and equipment. 



During the past winter the Pacific Room, though far from com- 

 plete, has been opened to the public. The most interesting speci- 

 mens are its marine Mammals, the Seals, Dugong, and Sea Otter ; 

 a collection of Birds from the Sandwich Islands, to illustrate one of 

 its characteristic insular faunae ; and a typical collection of Fishes 

 and of Invertebrates, which occupies the central cases of the room. 



The Greene Smith Collection of Birds has been placed in the 

 North American Room. New cases have been built to accommo- 

 date it, and the whole collection has been carefully examined and 

 thoroughly cleaned by Mr. Clark, who has spent nearly a whole 

 year upon this work. With this addition in place, we have 

 every reason to be satisfied with our North American faunal 

 exhibit. 



The additional space devoted to the North American Birds has 

 compelled as to remove the shore marine forms, which up to the 

 present time have formed a part of the faunal exhibits. This has 

 necessitated the rearrangement of the Marine Fishes and Inverte- 

 brates, and their removal to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian 

 Ocean Faunae, limiting the faunal exhibits of the Fishes and Inver- 

 tebrates to the Land and Freshwater types, — a far more consistent 

 geographical arrangement than the former mixture of terrestrial 

 and marine faunal subdivisions. These changes have brought an 

 unusual amount of work upon Mr. Garman, and especially upon 

 Mr. Faxon, who has had the general supervision of this rearrange- 

 ment. Several of the rooms of the oldest part of the Museum 

 building have been thoroughly renovated. 



Although we have received a small Hippopotamus, a few Ga- 

 zelles, and an African Elephant, we still have some gaps to fill in 



