54 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 



Mr. F. A. Lucas, curator of this department, was absent from the 

 Museum from June 18 to October 15, 1896, having been detailed to 

 accompany the party visiting the Pribilof Islands for the purpose of 

 aiding in ascertaining the condition of the fur-seal herds. On June 5, 

 1897, he again left for the north on a similar mission.. 



The number of accessions to the collection has been small, although 

 such material as has been received is of considerable scientific value. 

 The study series is overcrowded, and many valuable si)ecimens are in 

 storage. It is possible to employ only a very small force in the prepa- 

 ration of material, and facilities for the work are also limited. For 

 these reasons no effort has been made to accumulate specimens which 

 could not be cared for, and only jiarticnlarly desirable material has 

 been accepted. 



A skeleton of an Australian native and a skeleton of a Gangetic 

 crocodile were purchased for the exhibit at the Tennessee Centennial 

 Exposition. A number of skeletons of mammals, birds, and reptiles 

 from Lower Siam, collected by Dr. W. L. Abbott, were transmitted to 

 the Museum. The specimens are all in excellent condition and include 

 many species not before represented in the collection. 



The exhibition series of the department is in especially good con- 

 dition. The study series, although overcrowded, is also well cared for. 

 The cataloguing of specimens has been kept up, but owing to the 

 absence of the curator and the rearrangement of the cases and speci- 

 mens in the exhibition hall, necessitated by the laying of a new 

 floor, no great amount of progress has been made in developing the 

 collections. 



In speaking of special investigations, Mr. Lucas says: 



In connection with his report on tlie fur-seal the curator has devoted considerable 

 attention to the question of dentition and to other anatomical points, as well as to 

 the food and breeding habits and diseases of the fur-seal. Tlie food was determined 

 almost entirely from osteological material, and in this connection one new genus of 

 fishes has been described. The description has not yet, however, been published. 

 The curator has also examined and identified the bones collected by Doctor Fewkes 

 at the ancient pueblo of Homolobi, and in this connection published a note on an 

 ancient Indian dog. The study of species of fossil bison of North America has been 

 continued, as well as the study of a new species of fossil shark from Iowa. 



The exhibition series has been studied at various times by students 

 from the medical colleges and the high schools. Students and teachers 

 have been allowed the use of the dissecting models whenever possible. 

 A new genus and species of fossil Skate were described by Dr. C. R. 

 Eastman, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, from 

 material sent to him. 



The number of specimens received during the year was 110, repre- 

 senting the same number of catalogue entries. The total number of 

 specimens now in the collection is 15,395. The last numbers in the 



