1918.] 
NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHL\. 
351 
gratulate themselves upon having been able to maintain the usual 
Museum activities without any detriment to the collections or their 
arrangement during these trying times. 
Early in the summer a competent steam engineer was engaged to 
examine the entire heating plant and to draw up plans for remedy¬ 
ing serious defects in the present system as well as for the installa¬ 
tion of new boilers. We w r ere fortunate enough to secure two 
Spencer boilers, which have been placed in the engine house and 
have already proved very satisfactory, although some of the repip¬ 
ing is still unfinished. The expense of these important improve¬ 
ments is covered by an appropriation made at the last session of the 
State Legislature and referred to in our last report. 
The falling of certain sections of plaster ceiling has necessitated 
the removal of all the ceiling covering in the mineralogical hall, with 
the intention of substituting a sheet metal ceiling at the earliest 
opportunity. 
Additional exhibits have been added to the collection of native 
trees, to- the local collection of birds and nests presented by the 
Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, to the Clarence B. Moore 
collection of Indian antiquities and to the William S. Vaux collec¬ 
tion of minerals. 
Numerous classes of school-children have visited the Museum 
during the year and various duplicate specimens, especially sets of 
labelled minerals, have been presented to schools in Philadelphia and 
vicinity. 
During the year Dr. Skinner made some important entomological 
collections in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 
Dr. Stone spent several weeks in making an exhaustive collection 
of the flora of southern Cape May County, N. J., and some local 
field work was carried on by other members of the Museum staff. 
Mr. Clarence B. Moore has also continued his explorations of the 
Indian mounds of the Southern States and presented the Academy 
with valuable material. Details of work in the several departments 
follow. 
Mammals. 
A number of valuable specimens received from the Zoological 
Society of Philadelphia have been prepared as skins or skeletons, 
while a large number of skeletons and skulls previously prepared in 
the rough have been macerated, numbered and placed in the study 
series. This work was carried on by the taxidermist, Air. David 
AlcCadden. Besides entering accessions the entire register of the 
