58 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



exchange two specimens of Chinese lizards, desired for purposes of 

 coinj^arison. 



During the fall of 1894 the curator made a trip to the Bad Lands of 

 South Dakota, where he obtained a number of interesting specimens. 

 ^Ir. WilUam Palmer, of the National Museum, also made collections 

 during his visit to Florida, in the spring of 1895. 



Ex])eriments have been made with formalin as a ])reservative, with a 

 view to using it as a substitute for alcohol, but, while it has been found 

 to possess advantages over the latter for use in the held, it is doubtful 

 whether it will ever take the place of alcohol in the preservation of 

 permanent museum collections. 



During the year the entire collection was overhauled, and the alcohol 

 renewed. The exotic species in the study series have been rearranged. 

 Owing to lack of space, no attempt has been made to increase the 

 exhibition series. 



xVs mentioned elsewhere in this report, material has been lent to 

 si)ecialists for study on several occasions during the year, and to Prof. 

 E. D. Cope, of Philadelphia, were given special facilities for study iu 

 the laboratory of the de]»artment. 



Dr. Stejneger has commenced the ])rei)aratioii of reports upon the 

 reptiles of the Mexican Boundary, and upon the collections made by 

 Dr. Fisher iu the Iluachuca Mountains. He has also continued work on 

 his proposed manual of Japanese Herpetology. Several papers based 

 upon Museum material have been published by the curator during the 

 year, two of them containing descriptions of new species. All of the 

 papers are referred to in the Bibliography (Api>endix iv). 



The last entry in the catalogue for the fiscal year covered by this 

 report was 22,482, the last entry for the i)receding year having been 

 21,388, a total of 1,094 entries. 



DEPARTMENT OF FISHES. 



Dr. Tarleton H. Beau still remains honorary curator of tliis depart- 

 ment, although since his change of residence to New York Mr. Barton 

 A. Bean, assistant curator, has practically performed the duties of 

 curator. In his report he states that, although the accessions of the 

 year were not so numerous or important as in 1894, much valuable 

 material has been received. The most important accessions were a 

 collection of tishes made at Mazatlau by Dr. ])avid S. Jordan and 

 others, and presented by the Leland Stanford Junior University; a 

 collection of fishes made at the Azores by Prof. William Trelease, 

 director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis; a series of deep 

 water tishes from the Indian Museum, Calcutta, collected by H. M. S. 

 Invi-stUjutor in the Bay of Bengal. The U. S. Fish Commission trans- 

 ferred to the Museum types of fourteen new species of fishes collected 

 in Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa, and Lake Ontario; also collections 

 of fishes from Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Columbia Eiver 



