J 34. [December, 



summer in the north east basement room of the Academy. During the year we 

 have received nine specimens. 



The collection in Herpetology and Ichthyology is at present undergoing 

 arrangement preparatory to its removal to the flying gallery in the east base- 

 ment room. The number of species of Reptilia is as follows : Batrachia 120'; 

 Sauria 150 ; Ophidia 242 ; Chelonia?. A conjectural estimate of the number of 

 fishes amounts to 450 species. During 1848, the collection received an addition 

 of 12 species of reptilia, and 16 species of fishes. 



The collection in Comparative Anatomy ts in good condition, gradually in- 

 creases, and comprises at present, exclusive of Dr. Morton's extensive series of 

 human crania, 307 crania of mammalia, 658 do. of birds, 68 do of reptilia, 30 

 do. of fishes, and 39 mounted skeletons. The collection of Dr. Morton continues 

 to be probably the largest in the world, numbering at present 819 human crania, 

 besides 28 casts of crania of various nations, ancient and modern. During 

 1848 we have received 12 mounted skeletons, from Drs. Wilson, Wat- 

 son, Meigs, and Halloweli, and Messrs. Germain, Lambert, and Ashmead ; 21 

 crania from Dr. Wilson ; and the deposit of 73 crania, principally human, by Dr. 

 Morton. 



The collection in Palaeontology, so far as arranged, is contained in the two 

 double rows of horizontal cases occupying the floor of the hall, which, when the 

 last report of the Curators was written, had not been finished. It has been 

 greatly enriched during the past year from a variety of sources. We expres.? 

 our thanks for a magnificent, and, to the American palaeontologist for study and 

 comparison, an invaluable gift, from the Honourable Court of Directors of the 

 East India Company, consisting of 124 well made and coloured casts of fossils 

 from the Sivalik Hills of India, comprising casts of fragments of 36 species of 25 

 genera of mammalia ; 1 species of bird ; 5 species of 4 genera of reptilia ; and 1 

 species of fish. We cannot appreciate too highly the intelligence of this honour- 

 able and celebrated body, when a voluntary gift of such an expensive charac- 

 ter is made, having no other object in view than the promotion of science. We 

 also feel our indebtedness to Dr. Thomas Horsfield, Curator of the East India 

 Company's museuni, for a fine cast of the cranium of Sivatherium giganteum, the 

 original of which is in the British Museum. To the memory of the late 

 Dr. Carpenter, of New Orleans, we owe our grateful recollections, for the 

 donation of one-half of the inferior maxilla and several teeth of the fossil Tapirus 

 Americanus. To Dr. T. B. Wilson, the lasting gratitude of the Academy is owing, 

 for the largest and most valuable donation in natural history probably 

 ever made in America, consisting of the following collections : Mr. Conrad's 

 collection of American fossils, containing about 3000 specimens and 1000 species; 

 (in this collection are the originals of Dr. Morton from the cretaceous formation,) 

 a general collection of British fossils, containing 9402 specimens, comprising 

 2935 species ; (this collection includes the selected specimens from the cabinet 

 of the late Miss Bennett, of England;) a collection of 2 155 specimens, comprising 

 501 species, from the cretaceous formation of France; a collection of German 

 fossils, containing 650 specimens of 500 species ; a collection of Italian fossils 

 from the tertiary of Piedmont, containing 2000 specimens of 600 species ; the 

 total of which is 17,207 specimens, and 5545 species. Dr. Wilson has also de- 

 posited a very perfect specimen of Ichthyosaurus iiitermedius. To Mr. Joseph 



