280  Field  Columbian  Museum — Reports,  Vol.  i. 
value  as  if  undescribed,  and  will  prove  of  great  assistance  in  settling 
questions  of  geographical  distribution  and  others  of  equal  importance. 
Snakes  and  batrachians  are  not  plenty  in  the  range,  but  we  have 
secured  some  of  both,  which  I  am  sure  will  prove  of  much  interest, 
and  I  hope  to  be  able  to  obtain  some  of  the  fishes  of  this  region.  All 
these,  whether  known  or  unknown,  will  be  valuable  additions  to  our 
Museum,  where  they  are  entirely  unrepresented."  It  is  expected  that 
this  expedition  will  return  to  Chicago  the  first  of  the  coming  month, 
and  the  results  of  the  expedition  will  undoubtedly  appear  in  the  pub- 
lication series  of  the  Zoological  Department.  During  the  year  the 
Assistant  Curator  of  Zoology  made  a  few  collections,  one  in  north- 
eastern Wisconsin,  one  at  Havana,  111.,  and  a  few  in  the  vicinity  of 
Chicago.  A  small  collection  was  also  obtained  by  the  Assistant 
Curator  while  attending  the  National  Fishery  Congress  at  Tampa, 
Florida.  The  collections  from  Wisconsin  and  Havana,  111.,  are  being 
used  in  making  exchanges.  One  set  has  been  sent  to  Stanford  Uni- 
versity ;  other  sets  are  being  prepared  for  the  British  Museum, 
the  United  States  National  Museum,  and  the  Museum  of  Compara- 
tive Zoology,  Cambridge.  During  the  year,  Mr.  Chope,  Assistant 
in  the  Department  of  Zoology,  has  been  very  energetic  in  collecting 
insects  in  the  vicinity  of  Chicago.  He  visited  La  Crosse  and  Juneau 
counties,  Wisconsin,  in  the  same  pursuit,  procuring  over  1,600  speci- 
mens. He  has  collected  many  cocoons  of  moths  and  butterflies  in 
the  vicinity  of  Chicago,  from  which  148  specimens  have  been  hatched 
in  the  laboratory  of  the  department,  thus  obtaining  more  perfect 
examples  than  could  be  secured  in  any  other  manner.  Several 
species  have  been  reared  from  the  egg.  Those  of  one  brood  have 
been  killed  at  different  times,  thus  securing  a  very  complete  series 
from  the  egg  to  the  imago. 
Installation,    Rearrangement,   and    Permanent    Improvements. — 
The  permanent  improvements  within  and  about  the  Museum  build- 
ing during  the  past  year  have  been  quite  extensive,  and  have  in  a 
measure  been  brought  about  by  the  demands  for  greater  convenience 
and  better  facilities  for  the  prosecution  of  the  daily  work  of  the  insti- 
tution. New  offices  have  been  constructed  in  the  east  and  west 
courts  respectively  for  the  Curators  of  Anthropology  and  of  Orni- 
thology, while  the  offices  and  laboratories  of  the  Departments  of 
Botany  and  of  Zoology  have  practically  been  reconstructed,  largely 
extended,  and  rearranged  in  the  interior.  A  new  studio,  complete 
and  modern  in  every  respect,  has  been  constructed  in  the  third 
gallery  of  the  east  court  for  the  section  of  Photography.    A  poison- 
