4 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



The additions to the collections, both to the research series and 

 to those on exhibition in which there is a more general public inter- 

 est, have been many and important. Of these additions mention 

 should first be made of the E. A. and O. Bangs collection of birds. 

 This large series of nearly twenty-four thousand skins contains 

 about two hundred types, is authentically named, and is in a 

 beautiful state of preservation. It is given without restrictions 

 by Messrs. John E. Thayer and Outram Bangs. Since 1900, when 

 the Museum acquired the E. A. and O. Bangs collection of mam- 

 mals, the energies and resources of Messrs. Thayer and Bangs 

 have been bent towards the systematic study of Nearctic and 

 Neotropical birds, and the result of their efforts now in large part 

 so generously added to the Museum's stores places the ornitho- 

 logical department among the most important in America. It is 

 also to be noted that with this aco^iisition Mr. Bangs's scientific 

 interests become wholly a Museum asset. 



The indebtedness of the Museum to Mr. Thayer is expressed in 

 part only by the above acknowledgment concerning the Bangs 

 Collection, for he has this year also given, in addition to a number 

 of mounted birds, some interesting albinos, a considerable series of 

 mammals, birds, and reptiles from Lower California, a large and 

 an especially desirable collection of vertebrates and insects from 

 central and western China. In the interests of science Mr. Thayer 

 arranged that Mr. W. R. Zappey should accompany Mr. E. H. 

 Wilson on the expedition sent out by the Arnold Arboretum to 

 China. Mr. Zappey's skill and industry are well shown in the 

 series, seven or eight thousand specimens, of mammals, birds, rep- 

 tiles, amphibians, fishes, and insects now stored in the Museum. 

 Though most of this collection is research material, it contains 

 among others a fine skin of the Bhutan Takin which Mr. Nelson 

 is preparing for exhibition. 



Shortly before his death, the late Dr. Selah Merrill expressed the 

 wish that the collection of mammals and birds which he had brought 

 together during his many years residence in Palestine might be 

 acquired by the Museum. Dr. Merrill's terms, which were so 

 liberal that the collection is in reality a gift, were readily assented 

 to by Mrs. Merrill, to whom acknowledgment is also due for so 

 large and valuable an accession from a locality of exceptional 

 interest. 



