8 



There have been extensive changes in the personnel of the 

 Museum during the past year, owing to the death of Professor 

 Hamlin and to the resignations of Professor Faxon and Dr. Whit- 

 man. The care of the collections intrusted to Professor Hamlin 

 has for the present been subdivided. The Fossil Vertebrates pass 

 into the hands of the Assistants in charge of each class. The 

 Fossil Invertebrates are placed in the care of Professor Hyatt, 

 while all the recent Invertebrates with the exception of Insects are 

 now supervised by Dr. Fewkes. It is hoped that this arrange- 

 ment, a more natural one, may become permanent, and that, as 

 our additions are not likely to be very large hereafter, they may 

 be cared for by the present staff, especially now that the Zoologi- 

 cal Exhibition Rooms are nearly complete. Whenever the Marine 

 Faunae are open to the public, they will need but little attention. 



Dr. Whitman has accepted the direction of a new Zoological 

 Laboratory recently established at Milwaukee ; but I shall have 

 his co-operation in completing as fast as possible under these new 

 conditions the Memoir on the Development of Bony Fishes, now 

 under way. 



Professor Faxon's resignation is a great loss to the Museum. 

 Associated with it for a long period as assistant and instruc- 

 tor, he had become identified with its interests, and it will be 

 difficult to fill his place by one as devoted to the interests of the 

 Museum, or who will succeed as well as Dr. Faxon has done in 

 interesting the large classes which he taught so successfully for 

 many years. 



The death of Professor Hamlin has removed one of the two 

 older Assistants whose appointment antedates my accession to 

 the care of this institution. Professor Hamlin had the reputation 

 of being a most exact and critical naturalist, and, as a representa- 

 tive of the older school of workers, was during his life a most 

 valuable assistant. He had a most extensive acquaintance with 

 Mollusks both recent and fossil, and was most painstaking and 

 methodical in his Museum work. To this he sacrificed most of 

 his time, so that his routine work prevented him from publishing 

 much original matter, — his extensive correspondence and ex- 

 changes with malacologists all over the world being a task which 

 taxed his time to the utmost. 



The number of visitors to the Museum is constantly increasing, 

 and on Sundays or holidays the rooms are frequently most un- 



