j.iHh'Mi'Y. rrnmwnoNS 1.') 



OrnitfioUnjii.- 'V\\v study tollcctioii of birds consists of appi'oxiiiuitcly 

 9(),IHH) unmounted skins, Hl)out ninr-tcnths of which jirc from th(! Western 

 Hemisphere, and sexcral thousand nests and e^gs. South America is 

 chiefly represented by a hirjic coUection from Matto Grosso, Brazil, and 

 extensive collections from (\)lond)ia; also smaller series from Ecuador, 

 Peru, Venezuela and Trinidad. 



From North America, there are important collections from Mexico, 

 Nicara<xua, California, Texas, Arizona and the Middle Atlantic States — 

 the Rocky Mountain region being most poorly represented. Of special 

 collections, the George N. Lawrence and Maximilian collections are of 

 special importance from the hundreds of type specimens which they contain. 



Mineralogy. — Most of the mineral specimens are on exhibition, but 

 the overflow from the public cases forms a study series of no mean propor- 

 tion. 



Public Health. — Living bacteria are maintained and distributed free to 

 recognized laboratories. 



Vertebrate PalcEontology. — The study collections comprise about 15,000 

 catalogued specimens of fossil mammals, 6,000 fossil reptiles and amphibians 

 and a few hundred fossil birds. Most of these are from the w^estern United 

 States. The collections of fossil horses. Eocene mammals and Cretaceous 

 dinosaurs are unrivaled. The fossil rhinoceroses, camels, oreodonts, carni- 

 vora, Fayiim, Pampean and Patagonian mammals, Jurassic dinosaurs, 

 Permian reptiles, turtles, etc., are likew^ise of the first rank. They include 

 more than nine hundred type specimens of fossil mammals and several 

 hundred type specimens of fossil reptiles and amphibians. 



The ^Museum Library, located on the fifth floor, contains about 70,000 

 _ .- volumes on various branches of natural history (save botany), 



anthropology and travel. It is particularly strong in verte- 

 brate palaeontology and scientific periodicals. Like other museum libraries, 

 it is of necessity a reference library, but, except on Sundays and holidays, 

 may be freely used by the public during the hours when the Museum is 

 open. 



The publications of the IMuseum, aside from the Annual Report, fall 

 Publicaf naturally into two groups: scientific and popular. The 



former, comprising the Memoirs, Anthropological Papers 

 and Bulletin, contain information gathered by the various expeditions, 

 or derived from the study of material collected; they are from the nature 

 of their subjects mainly of a technical character. The Memoirs consist 

 of the larger, more important papers, or those that call for unusually large 

 illustrations. These are issued from time to time as occasion may demand. 

 The Bulletin comprises the shorter papers, those that contain information 

 that it is desirable to issue promptly, and a volume of about 400 pages is 

 issued annually. The scientific papers are distributed, largely in exchange, 

 to museums and libraries throughout the world. 



