•REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 101 



Mr. G. S. Miller, jr., in Mississippi and Alabama, and to augment the 

 turtle collection, which has been at a standstill for many years, but 

 which the head curator has now taken up for a critical examination 

 of the North and Middle American forms, a number of southern 

 species were purchased. The genus Brachylophus^ the only one of 

 the American family Iguanidse known to occur in the Old World, 

 has not hitherto been represented in the collection. During last year, 

 however, two specimens were received as a gift from the Department 

 of Agriculture of Fiji, and another was obtained in exchange from 

 the Museum of Comparative Zoology, together with two specimens of 

 the singular west African " hairy " frog, Astylosternus rohustus. 



The substitution of glass-stoppered jars for the old style of salt- 

 mouth bottles is still in progress, and the contents of several old tanks 

 were also transferred to jars or made into dry preparations, notably 

 the large turtles. The osteological material has been partly gone over 

 and arranged in unit cases placed in the corridor adjacent to the 

 laboratory. In furtherance of a study of the turtles of North and 

 Middle America, begun by the head curator, it was found necessary 

 to institute a separate series of cleaned turtle skulls, similar to the 

 one in the division of mammals, and a number were prepared in that 

 manner. This work will be pushed during the current year and 

 promises results of great interest. The card cataloguing of the col- 

 lection is progressing satisfactorily and the search for old types has 

 been quite successful. 



Since 1857, when Louis Agassiz published his Contributions to the 

 Natural History of the United States, no scientific revision of the 

 North American turtles has appeared in this country. More than 25 

 years ago the Museum arranged with Dr. G. Baur for the preparation 

 of a voliune on the Testudinata of North America, but the work was 

 stopped by reason of his death, and the fragmentary state of the ma- 

 terial left by him prevented its being finished by others. The urgent 

 demand for such a publication has induced the head curator to under- 

 take the task, the subject being treated somewhat on the plan of, and 

 covering the same territory as, Ridgway's Birds of North and Middle 

 America. The work was started about a year ago, and during the 

 hours that could be spared from administrative duties he has made 

 such progress that the volume may be expected to be ready in a year 

 or two. The collections of the division were consulted by Dr. Thomas 

 Barbour, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology; and Miss Stella 

 Clemence, of the American Museum of Natural History; and speci- 

 mens were lent for study to Dr. Alexander G. Ruthven, director of 

 the Museum of Zoology of the University of Michigan ; Dr. Shufeldt, 

 of Washington ; and Dr. Barbour. 



Fishes. — The most important accessions came, as usual, from the 

 Bureau of Fisheries. They represented the results of collecting work 



