i8o Field Museum of Natural History — Reports, Vol. V. 



Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Chickadee, Snow Bunting, 

 Blue Jay, some excited Crows have discovered a Screech Owl in a 

 hollow tree, and a Northern Shrike is shown surrounded by several 

 small birds (Redpolls, Siskins, etc.), which he has killed and placed on 

 thorns for future consumption. Group 2 — A winter scene on shore of 

 Lake Michigan, showing ice and open water. The group includes Her- 

 ring Gulls, Surf Scoter, Long-tailed Duck or Old Squaw, and Red- 

 breasted Mergansers; all familiar birds in this locality at that season. 

 Group 3 — Bird Life at Fox Lake, Illinois. A summer scene, illustrating 

 the nesting habits of a number of the smaller marsh birds and includes 

 the Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Bank Swallow, 

 Black Tern, Galliniile, Virginia Rail, Sora Rail, Coot, and Least Bit- 

 tern. Many nests, eggs and young birds are shown. Thirty specimens 

 of local fishes were mounted. There was also prepared, from a skin in 

 liquid, an excellent mount of the monkey-fish, a strange eel-like creature 

 inhabiting the California reefs. The large moimted sword-fish, which 

 was literally falling to pieces, was remounted and put into such shape 

 as to make a suitable display. Some time was devoted to the formula- 

 tion of the best possible scheme for the display of fishes, amphibians, and 

 reptiles in the new Museimi building, in order that the exhibition aspect 

 of the work in the Division might be most efficiently directed to that 

 end. The Division of Entomology primarily directed its efforts toward 

 the preparation of insects and insect groups for exhibition. A life- 

 history exhibit of the mulberry silk-worm, containing fifty specimens, 

 illustrating the various stages of the silk-worm, including the eggs, 

 larvae, cocoon, and moths, was mounted on a wax mulberry branch. 

 This life-history together with recently acquired photographs of the 

 silk-worm industry in Japan, and a selection of the enlarged models of 

 the same insect, are to be installed in one of the new A-cases. The 

 Assistant Curator assembled and determined all of the alcoholic repre- 

 sentatives of the scorpion, centipede and tarantula contained in the 

 Museum collection. This material was prepared for exhibition and 

 there are now ready for installation fifty-five moimts of these insects. 

 Some of the material collected during the year by this Division has 

 been prepared for exhibition and considerable progress has been made 

 in making the casts of leaves, larvae, etc., for the tomato worm case. 

 Satisfactory progress with the reinstallation of the shell collection was 

 made only during the first five months of the year, during which time 

 one case was filled and completed, while all of the shells still to be in- 

 stalled were remounted on new tablets, thus completing at least one 

 important phase of this work. A portion of the systematic exhibition 

 collection in osteology was reinstalled in cases released from the Division 



