Jan., 1920. Annual Report of the Director. 



307 



Pub. 204. — Botanical Series, Vol. IV, No. 2. Revision of the North 

 American species of Xanthium. By Charies F. Millspaugh 

 and E. E. Sherff. April 1919. 41 pages. 7 halftones. 

 Edition 1,000. 



In addition to the publications distributed for exchange purposes, 

 two hundred and sixty-eight have been sold to various individuals who 

 were not in a position to offer equivalent literature as an exchange. 



THE LIBRARY. — There have been received by gift, exchange and pur- 

 chase 1,716 books and pamphlets, an increase over last year's receipts. 

 The library contains 72,736 bound and unbound books and pamphlets. 

 The following list shows the number of titles in each Department: 



General Library 45.792 



Department of Anthropology 3,698 



Department of Botany 7,640 



Department of Geology 10,675 



Department of Zoology 4,93 1 



No especial event affecting the welfare of the library has occurred 

 during the year; the endeavor has been to round out the work along the 

 usual lines. With the activities of the curatorial staff largely engaged in 

 preparations for moving to the new building, their requests for books 

 were comparatively few during the first half of the year. With the ces- 

 sation of that work and time again devoted to research their requests 

 were renewed for books necessary for the study of material for installa- 

 tion purposes. For immediate use forty-three works were purchased. 

 An important gift was received from Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus of a 

 rare and beautifully bound copy of Autograph Letters of Charles 

 Darwin, written to J. Jenner Weir during the year 1868; also auto- 

 graphed copies by Louis Agassiz. These are the initial contributions 

 to a very interesting collection to be known as, Gunsaulus collection of 

 personalia and souvenirs of eminent nattiralists. Early in the year the 

 first voltmie of The Monograph of the Pheasants, by William Beebe, 

 was published by the New York Zoological Society; a beautifully il- 

 lustrated work of these gorgeous birds in their native haunts, to be 

 complete in four voltimes. When the attention of Mr. Edward E. Ayer 

 was called to the work he immediately subscribed to the set for the Ayer 

 Ornithological Library of the Museum. Mr. Ayer has also presented 

 copies of Seth-Smith's Handbook of the Imported Species (parakeets), 

 and Whitaker's Birds of Timisia. A number of desirable and valuable 

 publications were received from contemporary institutions, both domes- 

 tic and foreign, in exchange for the publications of the Museum. The 

 number was especially noticeable because of the enormously enhanced 

 cost of book-production. The Musetmi was most fortunate in receiving 



