16 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.  [Feb. 
and fruits still attached to them,—this preliminary examination 
cannot be made in the limited space left in a garret already full 
of heaped materials of various kinds. Moreover, these botan- 
ical specimens are all now properly packed, and in that state 
their displacement cannot endanger any part of them, while, 
once out of the bundles, some essential organs or valuable 
parts may be easily detached and lost by removal. Still 
another consideration prevented the beginning of this impor- 
tant work now. Some of the trees already obtained by the 
Museum, and others which it may be convenient to obtain here- 
after, should be preserved whole, as much, at least, as it is pos- 
sible, for comparison of size, of external character, the bark, 
mode of attachment of the leaves, of the fruits, &c., &e. Of 
course, these large trunks cannot be piled up in the Museum. 
They should be distributed around a special room, and left 
standing between rows of cases, or disposed in such a way that 
they may serve for ornaments, as well as for objects of instruc- 
tion. Such a distribution can be made only on a carefully 
devised plan, and when the dimensions of the places destined 
for the specimens are known. 
These reasons, I hope, will serve as a sufficient excuse for 
the postponement of a work which I consider of great impor- 
tance if it can be properly conducted, and will account also for 
the short duration of my co-operation at the Museum this year. 
tl} 
Pi 
Report on the Library, by Rev. J. B. Terry. 
On looking over the Library, I find myself unable, for the 
present, to report upon its condition in full. I shall accordingly 
confine myself to a few incidental points. 
After Mr. Uhler ceased to act as Librarian, and previously 
to my taking charge of the Museum collection of books, con- 
siderable time elapsed. As no one had special care of the 
Library during this interval, books were of course somewhat 
misplaced and interchanged. It was consequently my first aim 
and effort to restore all such volumes to their proper position, 
so far as this could be learned from the several alcove cata- 
logues. This work was carried on by slow degrees, as opportu- 
