Field  Columbian  Museum — Reports,  Vol.  i. 
seven  and  one-half  foot  plank  of  the  species,  simply  planed  to  show 
the  character  of  the  lumber  produced.  With  this  is  associated  a 
" quartered"  board  exhibiting  the  character  of  the  wood  when  sawed 
through  the  medullary  rays.  In  cases  of  large  genera,  like  the  oaks, 
ashes,  pines,  etc,,  etc.,  these  planks  and  boards  are  especially  sawn 
from  trees  selected  and  blazed  when  standing  with  their  summer 
characters  intact.  Most  of  our  American  trees  exhibit  various  orna- 
mental forms  of  woody  growth,  such  as  burls,  curls,  wavy  lines, 
bird's-eye  figures,  blisters,  block  marks,  etc.,  etc.,  making  valuable 
varieties  for  fancy  cabinet  making.  Samples  of  these  forms,  dressed 
and  polished,  are  shown  in  Element  V.  The  distribution  and  pre- 
dominance of  each  species  is  represented  in  shades  of  color  (deepest 
where  the  tree  is  most  prevalent)  upon  an  outline  map  of  North 
America  two  feet  square.  This  serves  a  commercial  purpose  in  indi- 
cating timber  growth  to  prospective  timber  buyers.  A  large  descrip- 
tive label  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  each  set,  and  in  giving  the 
principal  and  subsidiary  common  names  of  the  species,  the  botanical 
or  universal  name,  the  distribution  of  the  species,  the  characters  of 
the  tree  and  wood,  the  uses  to  which  the  lumber  is  most  often  put, 
and  statistics  showing  the  physical  characters  of  the  species,  its 
weight  per  cubic  foot,  hardness,  resistance,  fuel  value,  etc.,  etc." 
Several  weeks  were  passed  in  the  forests  and  timber-growing  regions 
of  these  three  sections  of  the  United  States,  and  a  great  amount 
of  material  was  gathered  and  provided  for.  Assistance  was  gener- 
ously given  by  the  Illinois  Central  R.  R.,  the  West  Virginia  Cen- 
tral, the  Ayer  &  Lord  Tie  Company,  the  Coahoma  Lumber  Company 
and  others,  who  evinced  their  interest  in  this  permanent  exposition 
by  offering  material  and  transportation  to  assist  in  completing  the 
w*  ik. 
The  Assistant  Curator  of  Ornithology  was  on  collecting  expedi- 
tions along  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  in  Florida  and 
Southern  Illinois  for  about  three  months  in  the  late  winter,  and 
collected  several  hundred  skins  to  be  added  to  the  already  large  col- 
lection of  North  American  birds,  to  which  the  Curator  of  the  depart- 
ment is  devoting  a  great  deal  of  energy. 
Installation,  Re-Arrangement  and  Permanent  Improvements. — The 
Department  of  Geology  has  performed  a  large  amount  of  work  during 
the  year  in  the  re-arrangement  and  classification  of  material  already 
on  hand.  This  has  seemed  desirable  in  order  to  bring  the  installation 
of  some  of  the  halls  up  to  a  proper  museum  standard,  and  also  to 
make  available  originally  acquired  material  which  had  not  obtained 
proper  display.      The  improvement    resulting  from  the  effort  so 
