4 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 
of frequent discussion between the Curators of this Museum and 
of the Boston Society during the eighties and again in 1896, when 
a tentative plan for the transfer of the Lafresnaye collection of 
birds from the Society to the Museum was abandoned, owing to 
financial considerations and to the objections of some of the more 
conservative and influential members of the Society. During 
1913 and 1914, however, the subject was reconsidered and an 
agreement reached by which the Society will in large measure 
limit their activities to the natural history of New England, a field 
great enough to tax their resources for many years. Under this 
agreement, it 1s proposed eventually to transfer to this Museum 
all the so-called research material in zodlogy, other than that 
needed for the study of the New England fauna, and for the exhi- 
bition of a typical series of the principal animal types. In return, 
this Museum will give the Society any New England material it 
may require, with the exception of the types of species and such 
other specimens as are of more scientific value with series covering 
large geographical areas than with series from a limited faunal 
area. The Museum will also, through its collections and staff, 
aid in the increase and preparation of the exhibition series repre- 
senting the animal kingdom throughout the world. Though 
progress in this work must necessarily be slow, it cannot fail to be 
advantageous to both institutions. The Museum has already 
received a large proportion of the Society’s unmounted birds, the 
old Boston Museum collection of birds, some European fossils, 
and a part of the Owen Bryant Javan collections. 
By a similar though less extensive codperative interchange of 
resources, this Museum has received the George Baur Galapagos 
collection belonging to Clark University. This collection con- 
sists chiefly of birds and reptiles, with a smaller series of insects, 
arachnids, and shells, and the unique type of the bat, Atalapha 
brachyotis Allen. In return for this collection, the Museum has 
forwarded to Clark University a complete set of its Memoirs 
and Bulletins and will send future volumes as issued. 
Some interesting field-work has been accomplished during 
1913-1914, though as not infrequently happens, a notice of the 
results must be deferred until the following year. The report of 
an expedition to Arctic waters and of a most successful trip to 
the West Indies, both made possible by the aid of several friends 
of the Museum, will be given in the next Annual Report. 
Dr. John C. Phillips conducted a collecting trip to the Sinai 
Peninsula and Southern Palestine during the spring (22 March- 
