REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 101 
Mr. G.S. Miller, jr., in Mississippi and Alabama, and to augment the 
turtle collection, which has been at a standstill for many years, but 
which the head curator has now taken up for a critical examination 
of the North and Middle American forms, a number of southern 
species were purchased. The genus Brachylophus, the only one of 
the American family Iguanide known to occur in the Old World, 
has not hitherto been represented in the collection. During last year, 
however, two specimens were received as a gift from the Department 
of Agriculture of Fiji, and another was obtained in exchange from 
the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, together with two specimens of 
the singular west African “ hairy ” frog, Astylosternus robustus. 
The substitution of glass-stoppered jars for the old style of salt- 
mouth bottles is still in progress, and the contents of several old tanks 
were also transferred to jars or made into dry preparations, notably 
the large turtles. The osteological material has been partly gone over 
and arranged in unit cases placed in the corridor adjacent to the 
laboratory. In furtherance of a study of the turtles of North and 
Middle America, begun by the head curator, it was found necessary 
to institute a separate series of cleaned turtle skulls, similar to the 
one in the division of mammals, and a number were prepared in that 
manner. This work will be pushed during the current year and 
promises results of great interest. The card cataloguing of the col- 
lection is progressing satisfactorily and the search for old types has 
been quite successful. 
Since 1857, when Louis Agassiz published his Contributions to the 
Natural History of the United States, no scientific revision of the 
North American turtles has appeared in this country. More than 25 
years ago the Museum arranged with Dr. G. Baur for the preparation 
of a volume on the Testudinata of North America, but the work was 
stopped by reason of his death, and the fragmentary state of the ma- 
terial left by him prevented its being finished by others. The urgent 
demand for such a publication has induced the head curator to under- 
take the task, the subject being treated somewhat on the plan of, and 
covering the same territory as, Ridgway’s Birds of North and Middle 
America. The work was started about a year ago, and during the 
hours that could be spared from administrative duties he has made 
such progress that the volume may be expected to be ready in a year 
ortwo. The collections of the division were consulted by Dr. Thomas 
Barbour, of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy; and Miss Stella 
Clemence, of the American Museum of Natural History; and speci- 
mens were lent for study to Dr. Alexander G. Ruthven, director of 
the Museum of Zoology of the University of Michigan; Dr. Shufeldt, 
of Washington; and Dr. Barbour. 
Fishes—The most important accessions came, as usual, from the 
Bureau of Fisheries. They represented the results of collecting work 
