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



had been previously received as gifts or exchanges were discontinued. 

 Foreign exchanges were scant and irregiilar. The total number of 

 books and pamphlets in the Library is 71,020, which are distributed as 



follows: 



General Library 44,750 



Department of Anthropology 3,6i6 



Department of Botany 7,476 



Department of Geology 10,460 



Department of Zoology 4,718 



Purchases were made of forty-six books necessary for work in hand 

 in the departmental libraries. Among those received are: Crawford's 

 History of the Indian Archipelago, 1820; Im Thurm's Among the In- 

 dians of Guiana, 1884; Rickard's Ruins of Mexico; Robelo's Diccionario 

 de Aztequismos; Walters' Ancient Pottery; Tutton's Crystallography; 

 Pennant's Synopsis of Quadrupeds, 1771. Through the continued 

 generosity of Mr. Edward E. Ayer, a handsomely bound and illustrated 

 copy of Lord Rothschild's Extinct Birds, and continuations of Mat- 

 thews' Birds of Australia were purchased for the Ayer Ornithological 

 Library. Mr. William S. McCrea donated a copy of Herrick's Audubon 

 the Naturalist. Interesting additions were also received from Mr. Wil- 

 liam J. Chalmers, Mr. Charles L. Freer, Detroit, Mr. J. Nilsen Laurvik, 

 San Francisco, Mr. Elmer D. Merrill, Manila, Mr. Edward S. Morse, 

 Salem, Mr. James Weir, Missoula. The general activities of the Library 

 have continued in as earnest and energetic a manner as existing con- 

 ditions permitted. New work has not been undertaken during the year, 

 but the development of resources at hand has progressed. The steadily 

 rising cost of binding materials made it impractical to bind the usual 

 number of books, and only 227 periodicals and serials were bound during 

 the year. There were written and filed in the catalogues 15,612 cards. 

 Twelve monthly installments of approximately a thousand cards each 

 of the John Crerar Library were received and filed. Preparatory to 

 moving to the new building a general weeding out has been made of 

 literature no longer of use in the work of the Museimi. Much of this 

 material had been accessioned before it was definitely determined that 

 the scope of the Museum would be confined to natural history. For 

 lack of shelf -room these books have been packed in boxes for some years. 

 What is of exchange value was checked off the records and repacked; 

 all duplicate material was carefully examined and what was of im- 

 portance for exchange purposes was also packed. All of these forty- 

 eight boxes were properly labeled and stored ready for shipment. What 

 was fit only for waste paper was sold. In all 1,780 numbers were checked 

 off the records, which reduces to 71,020 the total number of books and 

 pamphlets in the Library. 



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