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Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



Palaeontology, Conchology, Entomology, Botany, Ichthyology, 

 Ornithology, Anthropology, Comparative Anatomy and Herpetol- 

 ogy. It seems a needless multiplication of officers to have so many 

 curators, and amid the multitude to have none to take charge of 

 corals, sponges, or invertebrates of any kind, and to leave the 

 mammals to the tender mercies of the Ornithologist. Why not 

 unite the various branches of Zoology under the one Curatorship of 

 Zoology ? Why not place Mineralogy and Palaeontology together ? 

 For there would seem the same reason for dividing Botany up into 

 curatorships of Dicotyledons, Monocotyledons, Ferns, Fungi and 

 Algae, as to divide Zoology up into so many little parts. 



During the last few weeks your Custodian has been engaged in a 

 new branch of display. The economic side of any science is that 

 which appeals most directly to the utilitarian American. Therefore, 

 when he can see some immediate good to result from the study of 

 science, he is already to give it some assistance. I have been pre- 

 paring a few cases for exhibition which are to show the products of 

 the insect and plant worlds. Two small cases, 13x13 inches, con- 

 tain silk-worm cocoons, raw and manufactured silk. Another case 

 of the same size is to have in it a specimen of the cotton plant, and 

 arranged around this as a center will be the seeds, the opened bolls, 

 raw cotton, and the various articles manufactured from this one 

 plant. Other cases could be devoted to the tobacco plant, the 

 flax, and to various food plants. In Entomology cases could be 

 arranged showing the various stages through which injurious in- 

 sects pass, and giving instructions how to get rid of them. In this 

 way collections could be made of great practical value and use, 

 which otherwise would be objects of curiosity only. 



This report may seem more devoted to suggestions of what 

 might be done, than to an account of what has been done. The 

 work must largely speak for itself. Much of the work done, how- 

 ever, is not to be perceived. The clerical labor necessary to keep 

 a constantly-increasing collection jf Natural History objects in good 

 order is very great, and the results of this labor only are to be seen. 

 These results are seldom in proportion to the work put upon them. 

 When it comes to the studying of various books to identify and 

 label certain objects, hours could be spent upon a specimen when 



