MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



5 



to specialists. But until the Museum can afford to employ a con- 

 chologist whose whole time will be devoted to the care of his 

 department we can hardly hope to do more than maintain in good 

 condition the conchological collections we now possess, and cannot 

 of course expect to carry out any important original work in a 

 group in which so many of the older American naturalists have 

 attained prominence. Mr. Faxon lias devoted considerable time 

 to a careful revision of the collections of Deep-Sea Crustacea, and 

 has succeeded in placing this material in excellent condition for 

 consultation. 



The collections of Fishes and Reptiles in charge of Mr. Garman 

 continue in excellent condition. 



In the Entomological Department Mr. Henshaw reports that a 

 good deal of his time has been spent in answering requests made 

 upon him for information. He has continued to send out material 

 for examination, while much of his time has also been given to 

 the care of a number of small collections sent to the Museum, and 

 to the supervision of the collections in general. 



Dr. W. McM. Woodworth has continued in charge of the collec- 

 tions of Worms, but owing to his absence in Australia for a great 

 part of the past Academic year few additions have been made to 

 the collections in his charge. 



The Library has received by gift or purchase the usual number 

 of accessions, and our exchanges have increased somewhat. The 

 number of volumes in the Library is now more than twenty-five 

 thousand, and inclusive of the Whitney Library over thirty thou- 

 sand. The Library has received from the State Department a set 

 of the Proceedings of the Fur Seal Arbitration. In connection 

 with Library matters, I may call attention to the plan proposed by 

 Professor Davis, of concentrating at the Museum Library more 

 of the Geological material now in the general Library, and of 

 placing in Gore Hall the Geographical collections in the Museum 

 Library. This is merely extending the plans already in existence 

 of splitting up our Library as far as practicable into smaller collec- 

 tions, more readily accessible to workers in special departments. 

 We thus have at the Museum, independent of the general 

 Library, smaller collections devoted to Entomology, to Marine 

 Invertebrates and Thalassography, to Fishes and Reptiles, and 

 the Assistants always keep within reach the most important sys- 

 tematic works in their Departments. It is thus a comparatively 



