REPORT OF DEPARTMENT OV MAMMALS. 135 



comiection with the section of osteology. It Avas at tiist intended that 

 the (lifterent species of nuiminals should be as well represented by skel- 

 etons as by mounted skins, but this plan was in the end found imi)rac- 

 ticable and was finally abandoned. 



Although the performance of so considerable amount of work for a 

 special purpose has kept the regular work of the de])artment in abey- 

 ancis it is hoi)ed that the Museum may benefit by it ultimately, both by 

 the addition of the mounted specimens to its exhibition series and on 

 account of the experience gained by the taxidermists in. rapid work. 



INVESTIGATIONS PROSECUTED DURING THE YEAR 1884. 



During the winter of 1883 and the spring of 1884 the curator was 

 engaged in studies upon the cotacea in the European museums. Find- 

 ing it very difficult to identify the material which has accumulated in 

 the department of mammals, he conceived the idea of examining for 

 himself the types of Gray and other writers, which are still extant in 

 the museums of Europe. With this intent, and also for the j^urpose of 

 studying certain details of museum installation, he visited the following 

 establishments : Eoyal College of Surgeons, London ; British Museum 

 of Natural History, London ; University Zoological Museum, Cambridge; 

 University Zoological Museum, Oxford; Norwich Museum; Public 

 Museum of Science and Art, Liverpool ; Museum of Art and Industry, 

 Edinburgh ; Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris ; Zoological Museum, 

 Leyden, and a number of less important institutions. The types of 

 toothed cetaceans of Gray, Flower, Cuvier, Gervais, Schlegel, and 

 others were examined and measured. The report upon this investiga- 

 tion is unfortunately still unpublished, owing to the pressure of other 

 work, but it is the intention of the curator that it shall be finished and 

 sent to the printer at an early date. 



These studies are intended as a basis for a monograph of the toothed 

 whales of North America, preparations for which are already well 

 advanced. The collection of cetacea in the National ^Museum is unques- 

 tionably the finest in America, and includes a large number of type- 

 specimens. The work can therefore be partially conii)leted without ref- 

 erence to other collections, although the latter must in the end be con- 

 sulted. 



The necessary work upon the cetacea is so great that the curator 

 scarcely hopes to be able to extend his researches upon the mammalia in 

 other directions for the i)resent. 



In addition to the insectivores sent to Dr. G. E. Dobson, of Netley, 

 England, in 1883, a large number of shrews have been confided to his 

 care for comparison with the great series already in his hands. The 

 family Soricidce will be treated of in the third and concluding part of 

 his work upon the insectivores, the first two sections of which have 

 already appeared. 



