MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



5 



Gifts. 



Each accession from Mr. Clarence B. Moore of Philadelphia gives 

 renewed cause for congratulation that the museum is favored by a 

 donor of such choice material. The gift received in July must be of 

 the finest material this eminent collector has taken from aboriginal 

 mounds of the southern states. Various implements, amulets, pend- 

 ants, beads of shell, slender pins of bone, and ear plugs of earthenware, 

 are of such unusual fineness that this collection, it would seem, must 

 contain material rarely equaled. 



To Mr. Luman Andrews of Southington, Conn., we acknowledge 

 with appreciation this year's addition of over 1500 herbarium speci- 

 mens, which, added to previous gifts, makes a total of 10,000 carefully 

 chosen representatives of our flora. This accession consists of pressed 

 plants collected and prepared by a thorough botanist who for years has 

 given lavishly of his time and efforts to secure for this museum a 

 herbarium which ranks with the best in New England. 



Another important donation has been made by Mr. Frank A. 

 Perret for the Springfield Volcanic Research Society. The set of 118 

 photographs comprising this gift are Mr. Perret's excellent work for 

 which he was awarded a gold medal at the 1911 International Exhibi- 

 tion at Rome. As a complement of the museum's unique volcanic 

 exhibit the value of these photographs is inestimable. 



The museum is fortunate indeed to have enlisted the interest 

 of so notable an ornithologist as Dr. Jonathan D wight, Jr., of New 

 York, from whom has been received the first installment of selected 

 series of North American birds from the donor's rare collection. In 

 this gift are 158 specimens, which with following accessions will be 

 placed in metal cases, also the gift of Dr. Dwight. 



Miss Mary A. Booth has placed with the Samuel Colton Booth 

 collection some of Arizona's best specimens of silicified wood. 



Mr. Walter H. Wesson's collection of New England fishes is a little 

 nearer perfection by the addition of a few more choice specimens; and 

 from Mr. Nathan D. Bill a miscellaneous collection, consisting of 

 Japanese models and domestic articles, with Indian baskets and im- 

 plements, furnishes important additions to several departments. 



These gifts for the year add to the museum a large number of 

 specimens of superior quality for display. Where to display them has 

 become a problem. For several years a process of substitution has in 

 a measure met the need of space. Now, however, even by such means 

 it is increasingly difficult to make valuable material available for pub- 



