GENERAL ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 
OF CANADA 
By W. Ii. Collins, Acting Director 
The activities of the National Museum of Canada were forced to 
undergo a decided readjustment during the year 1931. This was due to 
a reduction in the appropriation for museum work which was necessitated 
by circumstances lying wholly beyond the control of the administration 
and springing from the financial stringency of the times. 
No reduction was made in the staff. It is small and any reduction 
would militate against the proper functioning of the institution. The 
need for economy resulted in almost complete suspension of field work 
for the year, field work in other years consisting of botanical and zoological 
surveys, anthropological investigations, and gathering of material for 
scientific study and exhibition purposes. Field work was restricted this 
year to painting and making casts of food fishes taken at Halifax, by 
way of co-operation with the Department of Fisheries, and to a few weeks' 
survey north of Kingston by two members of the Biological Division. 
It was very little to the disadvantage of the Museum, however, 
that field work was restricted. Records and material for study tend to 
accumulate, and a lengthened period of office work permits of clearing 
away this accumulation. The opportunity for close and extended appli- 
cation in the office was welcomed by the Museum staff. As one consequence, 
the Department is quite likely to be embarrassed with more reports and 
scientific articles than can be published with the available funds. 
Equipment of the exhibition halls was increased during the year by 
the construction in our own workshop of one mahogany table case and of 
five mahogany cases specially designed to carry sixteen standard insect 
cases. Six of these 16-compartment insect cases have now been con- 
structed and the museum is indebted to the Entomological Branch, 
Department of Agriculture, for kindly co-operation in making an ex- 
cellent entomological exhibit. 
Good progress was made in the exhibition work in all the Museum 
halls. Placing of five upright cases in the Palaeontological hall a year 
ago permitted several good exhibits to be set up, among which may be 
mentioned collections of Pleistocene vertebrates and fossil fishes. A large 
collection of dinosaur tracks was placed on exhibit and the collection 
of tracks from Carboniferous sediments was re-mounted. In the west 
Anthropological hall a number of fine and artistically arranged collections, 
put on display to demonstrate the artistry of the aborigines of Canada, 
have attracted much attention. They include wood carving, fine basketry, 
and wampum, and work in silver, copper, stone, ivory, and black slate. 
Among the new exhibits in the Biological hall are some life-like groups, 
including polar bear cubs, the starling, the chestnut-sided warbler, the 
nighthawk, and the golden plover. 
The Acting Director of the Museum wishes to express his appreciation 
of the co-operation of those members of the Geological Survey staff who 
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