36 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



man was secured as a permanent assistant, to whom twenty years later 

 (in 1907) was assigned the curatorship of ornithology. He proved from the 

 first an enthusiastic and efficient helper, at all times in fullest sympathy 

 with the policies and work of the department. His various expeditions to 

 Florida, Trinidad, Cuba, and Mexico in the earlier years of his connection 

 with the Museum added important accessions to the research collections 

 of mammals and birds, and later he took in hand the construction of the 

 Habitat Groups of birds, which soon became an impressive feature of the 

 Museum exhibits. This has been followed in recent years by his well 

 known series of expeditions to South America, in the interests of this de- 

 partment. 



In 1887, on the death of Dr. J. B. Holder, who for many years had been 

 curator of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Fishes and Reptiles, 

 this department was also placed in my charge, 1 and the collections of fishes 

 and reptiles remained in my care till 1901. 



Following the bounteous year 1887, were a number of lean years, as 

 regards accessions to the collections; there was, however, a slow but steady 

 increase of material from both North and South America, and in later 

 years also important additions from Asia and Africa. These accessions 

 afforded not only material for exhibition but for scientific research, the 

 results of which were published in the Museum 'Bulletin/ With the 

 gradual increase of the collections the scientific staff of the Department also 

 increased, from a single assistant in 1888 to six assistants in 1915, besides 

 stenographic and other non-staff office assistants and four field assistants. 



As previously noted, Assistant Curator Chapman was placed in charge 

 of the ornithological division of the department in 1907, with W. DeW. 

 Miller as assistant; Roy C. Andrews became assistant in the mammalogical 

 division in 1908, and assistant curator in 1911; H. E. Anthony, became 



i In the list of Officers and Committees in the Annual Report for 1888, the entry for my department 

 reads: "Prof. J. A. Allen, Curator of the Department of Ornithology, Mammalogy, Fishes and Reptiles. 

 Also temporarily in charge of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology." In 1890 the Department of 

 Invertebrate Zoology was transferred to the Department of Geology, Mineralogy and Conchology 

 (Prof. R. P. Whitfield, curator), and the name of my department changed to "Department of Mam- 

 malogy, Ornithology, Herpetology, and Ichthyology." In 1898 it was renamed "Department of 

 Vertebrate Zoology," and this was its official designation till 1901, when Fishes and Reptiles were 

 assigned elsewhere and it became "Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology," the designation it 

 has since retained. 



There having been, during these years, no available exhibition space for the fishes and reptiles, 

 I was responsible merely for their safe storage. I catalogued, however, the accessions of reptiles and 

 batrachians, in which classes I had formerly taken much interest, and of which for a time I was curator 

 at the Roston Society of Natural History. 



A department of taxidermy was established, as stated above, early in 1886, and, with a chief 

 taxidermist and a staff of several assistants, remained an adjunct of the Department of Mammals and 

 Rirds till 1903, when it was separated as a distinct department and broadened to cover a much wider 

 field than mammals and birds. 



