REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 57 



at Sau Marcos, Tex., were received from tlie United States Fish Com- 

 mission. They represent a new genus and si^ecies, described by Dr. 

 Stejneger as Typhlomolge rathhunl. This is regarded as one of the 

 most remarkable herpetological discoveries of recent years. Other 

 accessions by gift inchided one from Dr. W. L. Abbott, consisting of a 

 series of reptiles collected by him in Madagascar, and one from Lieut. 

 Wirt llobinson, United States Army, consisting of a collection of rei)- 

 tiles and batrachians from La Guayra arid Margarita Island. A series 

 of reptiles and batrachians from Argentina was received from the 

 Museo de la Plata, in exchange. 



The curator's visit to the islands in Bering Sea yielded very little in 

 the way of collections for this department, owing to the absence of 

 batrachians and reptiles in the localities visited. A specimen of a 

 rare salamander [SalamandreJla tcofisessenslcii) was, however, obtained 

 in Kamchatka. It is the only si)ecies occurring there, and had not 

 been previously represented in the Museum collection. Mr. F. W. True 

 secured some si)ecimens of snakes and toads on Vancouver Island, and 

 an interesting collection of snakes from the Dismal Swamp, Virginia, 

 was obtained by Mr. William Palmer of the National Mnseum. 



Kegarding the condition of the various series in the department, the 

 curator says: 



The collectiou was gone over systemnticiilly several times, and the alcohol 

 ' strengthened and leplenibhed as reiiuired. The exhibition series still consists only 

 of the separate casts, the yellow-boa gronp and the gronp of North American turtles 

 and poisonous snakes. The study series is divided into the North American series, 

 the exotic series and the duplicates. The former are all in separate jars and bot- 

 tles ; a portion of the exotic series is still in storage jars, while most of the duplicates 

 are kept in tanks. 



Owing to the prolonged absence of the curator, and the fact that 

 after his return he has been engaged principally in bringing the routine 

 work up to date, but little has been done in the way of conducting spe- 

 cial investigations upon the material under his care, beyond the descrip- 

 tion of the new genus and species of batrachian already referred to. 



Specimens have been sent to a number of individuals for study, 

 as indicated in the chapter devoted to transactions of that character, 

 and special facilities were accorded to Prof. E. D. Cope for study- 

 ing material in the department in connection with his forthcoming 

 monograph. 



Among those whose cooperation has been of value to this department 

 mention should be made of Mr. Julius Hurter, St. Louis Mo., and Mr. 

 W. L. Sherwood, New York City. 



Four papers based upon Museum material have been published by 

 the curator during the year. 



There were 329 specimens received and entered, the last number in 

 the catalogue on June 30, 1895, being 21*482, and on June 30, 189G, 

 22811. The total number of specimens in the collection is estimated 

 at over 35,000. 



