REPORT OP ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 



49 



Panama Railroad Company, and the Pacific Steamship Company, as 

 also to Messrs. Wells, Fargo, Co., for free transportation of very many 

 boxes and packages. The expense of what has been thus received, if 

 charged for at the usual rate, would have been entirely beyond the 

 means of the Institution, and if in an unprecedentedly short time our 

 knowledge of the natural history of California has been carried to a 

 point fully equal to that of any of the older States_, it is unquestionably 

 owing in very great measure to the liberality of the companies above 

 mentioned in so generously seconding the efforts of the Institution. 



The folloioing table exhibits the additions made to the record books of the 

 museum in 1857, in continuation of previous years: 



Present condition of the museum. 



The remarks in the last annual report of the Institution in relation 

 to the richness and extent of its collections are strengthened by the 

 additions of the past year, and they are confidently believed to be 

 beyond competition in the field of American zoology. The precise 

 statistics cannot now be given for the different classes and orders, as 

 the cataloguing is not yet completed. In one department, however, 

 some idea of the facts may be realized by the statement, that on the 

 first of July, 1857, the Institution possessed — 



Species. 



Of skins or alcoholic specimens of North American mammals 20.'> 



Of skins or alcoholic specimens of South American mammals 18 



Of skins or alcoholic specimens of European mammals 60 



283 



Of skulls or skeletons of North American mammals 221 



Of skulls or skeletons of South American mammals 17 



Of skulls or skeletons of European mammals 48 



2S6 



This was entirely exclusive of Cetacea, Pinnipedia, Cheiroptera and 

 Quadrumana, of which there were many species. Since the first of 

 July, the number of species of all orders has received a large increase. 

 The species of North American mammals in the museum of the In- 

 stitution, not mentioned in the great work of Audubon and Bachman, 

 exceeds 80. Of birds, the North American species are believed to ex- 

 ceed 600 ; of reptiles, 400 ; of fishes, probably 800 or more. As all 

 these classes are in process of elaboration, accurate statistics can 

 probably be presented in the next report. 



4 s 



