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4. INDICATE BRIEFLY THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE EXHIBITION SERIES AND THE STUDY SERIES, IN YOUR DEPARTMENT.

The condition of the exhibition-series is exactly the same as it was at the close of the last fiscal year. The space is overcrowded and many good things are buried by the necessity of putting cases and specimens nearer to each other than they ought to be. Several fine group are in storage for want of room in which to exhibit them.

The study series has not degenerated so far as I am aware & a large number of skins have been taken from the vats and made up dry and many old but valuable skins have been made over. From the want of an assistant little has been done to get these larger skins classified and put away as they should be.

There is still a large number of skins of the larger species which are in very bad form for study purposes and ought to be made over so that they can be handled. At present they are stored in boxes.

New cases were provided in the 3d. story laboratory, but little has yet been put into them.

Some progress was made in transferring the valuable study-series of small skulls from trays to boxes but more remains to be done.

The alcoholics have been looked after and roughly classified in the alcohol-room, but the lack of an assistant made it impossible to do much in that direction.