LIBRARY, PUBLICATIONS 15 



Ornithology. The studs collection of birds consists of approximately 

 90,000 unmounted skins, about nine-tenths of which are From the Western 

 Hemisphere, and several thousand nests and eggs. South America is 



chiefly represented by a large collection from Mat to Grosso, Brazil, and 

 extensive collections from Colombia; also smaller series from Kcuador, 

 Peru, Venezuela and Trinidad. 



From North America, there are important collections from Mexico, 

 Nicaragua, California, Texas, Arizona and the Middle Atlantic Stat* 

 the Rocky Mountain region being most poorly represented. Of special 

 collections, the George X. 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, hut 

 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 Palaeontology. — 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 western United 

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

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

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

 Permian reptiles, turtles, etc., are likewise 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 historv (save botanv), 

 Library . . *^ . 



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 Museum, aside from the Annual Report, fall 



_, ... . naturallv into two groups: scientific and popular. The 



Publications " . . ° \ . f * , 



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. 



