Alfred W. Crompton, presently head of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History, has been appointed to succeed Ernst Mayr as director of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology on February 1.

Crompton's new job entails considerably more than supervising animal exhibits. "Only 14 per cent of the museum's floor space is devoted to exhibits," retiring director Mayr said. "The important functions of the museum are teaching and research."

Biggest Task

The new director's biggest task will be supervising the construction of the museum's new six-story wing, designed to provide a center for the study of living animals. Construction of the facility, which will contain two floors devoted solely to marine biology, will begin in about a year.

Mayr, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, will continue to teach at Harvard. A recent recipient of the National Award for Science, he is giving up the museum directorship to devote more time to research and to his current work on the history of biological concepts.