Accessions— Zoology 



New material for study continues to come in at a gratifying rate, 

 as these figures show: mammals — about 1,350 specimens; birds — 

 6,378 specimens; amphibians and reptiles — 28,902 specimens; fishes 

 — 4,100 specimens; insects — 63,959 specimens; mollusks — 105,000 

 specimens; and anatomical material — 773 specimens. 



We were particularly fortunate in being able to purchase the 

 Dr. E. H. Taylor Collection of reptiles and amphibians of about 

 25,000 specimens, one of the most important private collections in 

 existence. Very few herpetologists have worked on as large a pro- 

 portion of the world's fauna in this field as has Dr. Taylor, and 

 this is the collection that he gathered in the course of his work. A 

 large part of the collection is from Mexico and Central America. 

 About 1,000 specimens are from Ceylon, and as many from Siam. 

 Other areas represented include the Philippine Islands, Malaya, 

 Liberia, Brazil, India, and China. 



Another outstanding purchase was the Fred Button Collection 

 of mollusks, which contains about 15,000 sets of shells. The col- 

 lection is particularly strong in shells of western North America 

 and in specimens obtained by exchange from collectors in Aus- 

 tralia and in France. Its fine cowrie shells, with those already in 

 our collection, give us 150 of the 168 known species of cowries and 

 make our representation of cowries the most complete in any 

 American museum. 



Our entomologists welcomed the purchase of 2,487 minute beetles 

 from New Caledonia and other South Pacifiic islands, newly col- 

 lected by Borys Malkin, among which are histerid beetles that will 

 enable Curator Wenzel to elaborate his earlier work on New Cale- 

 donia members of this group (and to supplement his forthcoming 

 work on the Micronesian forms) and feather-wing (Ptiliid) beetles 

 that will be useful to Associate Curator Dybas in his work on the 

 Micronesian feather-wings. A further 10,919 feather-wing beetles 

 that were sieved from the soil and leaf litter at localities in 17 states 

 east of the Mississippi River was a gift from Walter Suter and 

 John A. Wagner, of Northwestern University. 



Some other notable accessions from far and near include 690 mam- 

 mals and 658 birds collected by Dr. Orlando Park and his students 

 at Northwestern University (gift) ; 859 birds of Egypt from Research 

 Associate Hoogstraal (gift) ; 900 fishes, including some paratypes of 

 the Pacific, from University of California at Los Angeles (gift) ; 104 

 fishes of Borneo from Phui Kong Chin (gift); 581 rove beetles, in- 

 cluding types of 52 species, from Research Associate Seevers (gift); 



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