upon which Sir Walter L. Buller based his second edition of
“The Birds of New Zealand,” is here.
The gallery of reptiles is on the first floor in the southeastern
 corner of the building. The museum has over 9,000
specimens of reptiles, mainly from temperate North America,
but there are many from Central and South America. Among
the most striking groups are the diamond-back rattle snakes,
collected in Texas, and the boa-constrictors from the Isle of
Pines.
The hall of fishes occupies the southeastern corner of the
building on the first floor. The great part of the collection of
fishes and reptiles is contained in the so-called “Alcoholic
Store-Room,” annexed to the building as a precaution
against fire, The museum has one of the most important
collections of South American fishes and the largest collection
of Japanese fishes in North America.
Here are the sponges, marine and freshwater shells, echinoderms,
 and other invertebrates. The exhibition series is locat-2d
 on the second floor in the southeastern corner, over the
gallery of reptiles. Most of the collections are preserved in
rhe Laboratory of Invertebrate Zoology, on the third floor.
The shells include various important collections containing
 the types and co-types of many species described by
early American authors, and an enormous series of the Union-‘dz
 of the Mississippi Valley. There are thousands of species
»f land and freshwater shells, and great collections of Crustacea,
 etc.
A few of the insects are shown on the second floor, but
most of the collections are contained in the Laboratory of
Entomology on the third floor. There are many thousands
of species of butterflies in the collection deposited by Dr. W.
J. Holland, director emeritus. The museum also owns the
Coleoptera of North America gathered by the late Henry
Ulke of Washington, 11,000 species, represented by 110,000
specimens; the Coleoptera assembled by the late Dr. John
Hamilton of Pittsburgh; and vast collections of the insects
of other orders made in all parts of the globe, acquired either
by purchase or gift. There are not less than 1,500,000 specimens
 of insects, representing approximately 150,000 species,
including thousands of types and paratypes.