656 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 
[Dec., 
IV. REPORT OF THE CURATORS. 
The year just completed has been marked by important progress 
in the arrangement and study of the collections and by the accession 
of much valuable material. 
The Museum has been visited by a large number of persons and 
there has been a constant increase in the schools and classes which 
have come, under the guidance of teachers, to study the collections. 
Classes in sketching from the School of Industrial Art have made use 
of the Museum every week during the winter months, and students 
from the natural history department of the Girls’ High School have 
studied the collections regularly throughout the school year. The 
Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has 
continued to occupy the quarters in the building allotted to it by the 
Academy some years ago. 
The movement of the centre of the city westward has been dis¬ 
tinctly noticeable in the increased number of visitors to the Museum, 
and the completion of the Parkway, which will pass the front of the 
Academy, will have a still greater influence in this direction. 
In the building, necessary repairs to the roof and heating plant 
have been made during the year. The marble wainscoting in the 
entrance hall has been moved out and backed by brick to form a 
support for the larger Icthyosaurus fossils which have been mounted 
thereon, adding greatly to the appearance of the hall. 
A number of large palms in tubs, gift of Mrs. Curwin Stoddart, 
Jr., have been placed in the entrance halls and the mineralogical 
room. 
Seven plate-glass exhibition cases have been purchased during the 
year, three for the mammal and four for the archaeological hall, while 
plate-glass frames have been provided for covering the large fossils 
in the entrance hall. 
Twenty-six metal-covered storage cases have been purchased for 
the study series of mammals and shells, as well as 102 insect boxes 
and 450 trays. 
Mr. Clarence B. Moore conducted two explorations among the 
Indian burial mounds along the Tennessee River, adding some valua¬ 
ble material to the Clarence B. Moore Collection in the Archaeological 
hall. While the results were not so rich as heretofore in the matter 
of specimens, the information obtained is of the greatest importance. 
Leave of absence was granted to several members of the Museum 
staff during the year for the purpose of conducting collecting expedi¬ 
tions in the field. Dr. Henry Skinner spent the month of February 
