38 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



cliielly upon the colkH'tioiis made by the Steamers Blalce, Albatross, 

 and Fish //<nrA- in the Northwestern Atlantic," by George Brown Goode 

 and Tarleton H. Bean, is an elaborate work of 553 pages, in quarto 

 form, with an atlas of 417 figures arranged on 123 plates. The work 

 of composition on Special Bulletin No. 3, which was partly put in typo 

 last year, has been completed, and the Bulletin is now ready for the 

 press. This Bulletin constitutes the second volume of '' The Life His- 

 tories of North American Birds," by MaJ. Charles Beudire, and relates 

 only to land birds, extending, in the classification given in the check- 

 list of the American Ornithologists' Union, from the parrots to the 

 grackles. The volume will contain 518 pages, and will be illustrated 

 by seven chromo-lithographic plates of birds' eggs. 



MATERIAL LENT FOR INVESTIC ATION. 



A number of specimens of the genus Vespertilio were sent to Mr. 

 G. S. Miller, jr., of the Department of Agriculture, for use in connec- 

 tion with the preparation of a monograph of that genus. Three speci- 

 mens of Cunieidus were also lent to Mr. Miller for illustration in a 

 forthcoming paper on the voles and their allies. Over two hundred 

 specimens of North American weasels were sent to Mr. Outram Bangs, 

 Boston, Mass., for use in connection with a revision of the eastern 

 weasels. Ten specimens of northern hares of the genus Lepus were 

 transmitted to Mr. S. N. Khoads, of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadeli)hia, for use in connection with a revision of the Arctic 

 hares; also a number of skins and skulls of Old World hares, for the 

 same purpose. Seven skulls of striped skunks were sent to Dr. E. A. 

 Mearns, U. S. A,, Fort Myer, Va.; one specimen of DendroUyrax was 

 transmitted to Dr. J. L. Wortman, American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, New York City, for comparison with fossil remains, and eighteen 

 specimens of weasels were sent to Mr. V. Bailey, of the Department of 

 Agriculture, for use in a revision of North American weasels. A large 

 collection of starfishes from the West Indies was sent to Prof. A. B. 

 Verrill, Peabody Museum, New Haven, Conn., for study in connection 

 with the preparation of a report upon the starfishes of that region ; 

 a specimen of amphipod (Cran<iomjx iiafjeUatus, Benedict) was trans- 

 mitted to the Kev. T. K. R. Stebbing, Tunbridge Wells, England, 

 who desired to make a special study of the genus, and a small collec- 

 tion of crayfishes was sent to Dr. Walter Faxon, Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., who is preparing a report on the 

 crayfishes added to the collection in the National Museum during recent 

 years. 



From the department of birds material has been sent out as follows : 

 A skin of Passcrella iliaca mei/arliyneJia to Mr. F. Stephens, Witch 

 Creek. Cal., for use in detennininga new subspecies from that State; a 

 skin of young Tern to Mr. George II. Mackay, L'5 Congress street, 

 Boston, Mass., for use in couuection with the identification of some Terns 



