Hall of Minerals, and, viewed in this light, the percentage of students in the whole number of the attendance is much above fifty per cent., a very satisfactory evidence of the serious use of the collections. The people, preponderatingly men, who remained in each hall for a considerable time evinced a studious interest, attributable perhaps to previous knowledge, or to newly awakened recognition of the character and beauty of minerals, though obviously, in the Gem Room, their attention partook of the popular admiration that gems universally excite.

The Collection of Minerals, during the past year, has been enriched by a very considerable group of specimens, some of which have unusual beauty, some are of phenomenal size, while among the additions are specimens of rare or lately described species.

Accessions

The collection has been enlarged by the addition of two hundred specimens, among which may be mentioned some interesting examples of the change from Anhydrite to Thaumasite, both found in the New Jersey trap-rocks, confirming the discovery of Mr. Frederick I. Allen of the origin of the latter singular compound, through a progressive alteration in the former. Some of the specimens, together with others illustrating the origin of the diamond-shaped cavities in the New Jersey Zeolites and Quartzes, of the trap region, as derivative from vanished crystals of Glauberite, will appear in Dr. W. T. Schaller's forthcoming Bulletin (United States Geological Survey). A Neptunite specimen of great size and richness, rivaling the examples now in the National Museum at Washington; a superb series of the Pyrites of Colorado with others from Utah, remarkable for their beauty, size and crystallographic novelty; Tellurium crystals (furnace products); additions to the suite of Californian precious and parti-colored Tourmalines; Benitoite (the unique gem-stone of California now rapidly disappearing in the mineral market); some admirable crystallized Golds, and a large single nugget of Gold from the placer of Hunter Creek, Alaska; an astonishing crystallized surface of Dioptase from Siberia; Native Copper in clustered strings of crystals, with Calcite, from Bisbee, Arizona; and rare or new species, such as Ampangabeite, Beta

fite (from Professor A. La Croix, Paris), Cebollite, Creedite, Hodgkinsonite, Parahopeite, Seartesite, Shattuckite and Wiikite, may be selected as indicative of the long suite of additions, all contributory to the collection's value and completeness.

As symptomatic of conditions now everywhere prevalent, though it would be hazardous to assign identical reasons, the price of minerals has enormously advanced, and, as a simple matter of appraisement, the fine collection now assembled in the Hall of Minerals has become a cash asset probably more than doubled in value. In this connection it is worthy of consideration that, according to many more or less well informed opinions, the offer upon the open market of numerous remarkable private collections of minerals will form one of the commercial sequelæ of the present European war.

WOODS AND FORESTRY

Department of Woods and Forestry

MARY CYNTHIA DICKERSON, Curator

On the recommendation of President Henry Fairfield Osborn, Mr. C. S. Pietro was commissioned by the Trustees to execute for the Forestry Hall a bronze bust of Professor Charles Sprague Sargent, director of the Arnold Arboretum, Brookline, Massachusetts. This is in appreciation of the services of Professor Sargent to the American Museum in assembling the Jesup Collection of North American Woods, and in recognition of his valuable contributions to the science of silviculture. A bust of Mr. John Muir, executed by the same artist, has been offered to the Museum by Mrs. E. H. Harriman.

Studies for the mural for the east end of the hall were made during the summer by Mr. Hobart Nichols, and a quarter-size sketch prepared. This mural will show a sunlit forest interior, and between the trees in the distance the forest-covered mountain slopes of a watershed.

The department counts itself fortunate in having secured the artist, Mr. Milton D. Copulos, to carry on the work of preparation of sprays of flowers, fruits and leaves for the trees of the hall. The quality of work now being done reaches

the highest standard of accuracy, beauty and permanency. Among the sprays installed during the year are the hornbeam (201 leaves), the Florida turkey oak (30 leaves), the Florida bluejack oak (92 leaves), the Florida live oak (93 leaves), the fringe tree (63 leaves), the paper birch (123 leaves), the sugar maple (58 leaves), and the shellbark hickory (80 leaves).

Mr. Barrington Moore, a graduate of the School of Forestry, Yale University, has been appointed associate curator in the department. Mr. Moore was a member of the United States Forest Service from 1909 to 1914, and has done considerable independent research in silvics and silviculture. It is hoped that there will be notable progress in 1917 in the educational exhibits so long delayed because of lack of funds and assistance.

There have been some additions to the reference collection of foreign woods and to the descriptive labels in the hall. The walls of the hall have been tinted with a refreshing shade of green that harmonizes well with the woods and the sprays of flowers and leaves in the cases. Among accessions special mention must be given to a small collection of California woods presented by Dr. C. Hart Merriam, and to a valuable specimen of the cones of Coulter's pine from 6,000 feet elevation in the San Jacinto Mountains.

In addition to the work of the department of forestry and that of herpetology, the editorship of The American Museum Journal has been carried.

Field Work

EXISTING INVERTEBRATES

Department of Invertebrate Zoology

HENRY EDWARD Crampton, Curator

The activities of the past year have been concerned largely with the "consolidation" of the results of earlier field-work, research, publication and exhibition, for the greater effectiveness of the department as a part of the Museum. Mr. Miner, assisted by Mr. Shimotori and Mr. Olsen of the Preparation Staff, revisited Nahant and areas of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, to make final studies of inverte