1887.] NATURAL SCIENCES OP rHILADELPHIA. 413 



tion before they can be considered to be in any way sufficient. Th6 

 Academy has received much assistance toward filling gaps from the 

 Zoological Society of this city, which has on several occasions do- 

 nated some of the rarer animals which, through death, were no 

 longer serviceable in the Zoological Gardens. Among these may 

 be enumerated a hippopotamus, kangaroo, wombat, echidna, etc. 

 It is hoped that with more intimate relations between the two in- 

 stitutions further advantages of this kind may be acquired. It is a 

 singular fact in connection with the development of an institution 

 like the Academy, that while its collections frequently embrace 

 numbers of sjDecimens that are considered rare, and not ordinarily 

 obtainable, other specimens, much more common, are largely or 

 wholly wanting. Thus, in the case of our own institution, while 

 there is what might be termed a superabundance of the skulls of 

 tigers, bears and wolves, there is not a single complete skeleton 

 of the ordinary cow or ox, sheep or goat ; and it was only during 

 the course of the present year that the Academy obtained, through 

 purchase ($100), the skeleton of the American bison. The disartic- 

 ulated pai'ts of a second individual were received at about the same- 

 time from the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, through the 

 good offices of the late Prof Spencer F. Baird. It is especially de- 

 sirable that the commoner animals should have a representation in 

 the museum, and it is earnestly to be wished that the museum fund 

 may be so far increased as to permit of purchases in this direction. 

 In the department of Ornithology, the Academy has profited 

 through the services of a special taxidermist, Mr. I. S. ReiflT, who 

 has, with a fair amount of care, examined the greater number of 

 the 30,000 birds in the collection, applying arsenical poisoning and 

 insect-powder where necessary, and readjusting the plumage of par- 

 tially mutilated specimens. The total number of birds marked out 

 as no longer serviceable for museum purposes is some 12 or 13, a 

 very insignificant number when the extent of the collection is taken 

 into account, and when it is remembered that this rejiresents a 

 destruction, not only for a single year, but for several years past. 

 The immunity from insect depredations is not a little remarkable, 

 seeing how imperfect the ornithological cases appear to be in com- 

 parison with those which more modern methods have succeeded in 

 producing. An application of pure naphthaline in cores will be at- 

 tempted this year as a further preventive of destruction. The fol- 

 lowing list indicates the species of birds which have been removed 



