4 ANNUAL REPORT OF TIIK 



brate Palaeontology. The many additions to the collections of 

 birds have made necessary a rearrangement of the storage cases 

 in the rooms on the fifth floor so as to provide separate rooms for 

 the storage of bird and mammal skins. The delivery room of the 

 library has undergone extensive alterations, including additional 

 stacks for the increasing collection of books of reference. By 

 these changes and many minor ones, much has been done for the 

 comfort and efficiency of service of the staff of the Museum. 



The changes in the exhibition rooms have been few. The 

 arrival of a mounted specimen of the Eland has necessitated 

 a new arrangement of the. animals in the African room, which 

 is now nearly as complete in the larger forms as space will 

 allow. A large case has been constructed in the Europeo-Siberian 

 room to accommodate a fine male Yak also purchased during the 

 past year, and a large specimen of the European Brown Bear has 

 been added to the faunal collections of this room. 



In the Report of last year mention was made of the great 

 need of the Museum for a collection of skins of mammals for 

 study and reference. Thanks to the efforts of the Overseers 

 Committee, friends of the. Museum have purchased for it the 

 well-known collection of E. A. and 0. Bangs of Boston, — one 

 of the best and most complete collections of North American 

 mammals, comprising over ten thousand skins, mostly with skulls, 

 including upwards of one hundred type specimens, all in perfect 

 order and condition. Considering the large outlay, and the years 

 of labor expended on the collection, and the nominal sum for 

 which its owners released it, the collection comes to the Museum 

 rather as a gift from the Messrs. Bangs. Mr. Outram Bongs has 

 been appointed assistant in Mammalogy and assumes charge of 

 the Museum collections. 



In the Department of Ornithology the principal accessions were 

 a series of Arizona skins from Mr. J. F. McClure of New York 

 and the large Bryant collection deposited by Mr. Henry Bryant 

 Bigelow of Boston, details of which will be found in Mr. Brewster's 

 report. 



Although no very important additions have been received to the 

 collections of Insects, Fishes, and Reptiles, it is gratifying to see 

 by the reports of Mr. Henshaw and Mr. Carman that the number 

 of contributors to these departments has been greater than in 

 recent years. 



