254 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Pkoc. 4th Ser. 



From Texas : Three salamanders. 



From Mexico : One snake, 8 frogs. 



From Colombia, S. A. : Two turtle shells. 



From the Hawaiian Islands : One turtle. 



From the Philippine Islands : Eight lizards, 9 frogs. 



From China: Fifty-three turtles, 9 snakes, 52 lizards, 114 frogs, 59 toads. 



During the year much progress has been made in classification and ar- 

 rangement of the collection on the shelves. This work involves the separa- 

 tion, identification, rebottling, labeling and card-cataloguing of the entire 

 collection of nearly 34,000 specimens. This huge task is now more than 

 one-third completed. 



Considerable scientific work also has been done during the year. Two 

 short papers have been published, and two others presented for publication, 

 while several others are in process of preparation. Among these are one 

 on the reptiles of Nevada and one on those of Idaho. 



During the coming year, it is hoped that the permanent installation of 

 the collection may be still further advanced and the collection much in- 

 creased in size. It long has been my desire to make the Academy's collec- 

 tion of reptiles and amphibians the largest and most valuable in America. 

 The field is open to the Academy and there is no good reason why it 

 should not avail itself of the opportunity to exceed all other museums in 

 this line of research. The collection now is very large and ranks probably 

 third in America, being exceeded by the collections of the United States 

 National Museum and of Harvard University, each of which is perhaps 

 fifty years older than our own. The growth of our collection during the 

 years since the great fire has been phenomenal, but in the last five years, 

 owing to lessened appropriations for field work, the rate of growth has 

 been much reduced. The number of specimens added during each of the 

 past six years has been, in round numbers, as follows : — 



1911 6100 specimens 



1912 3500 



1913 2700 



1914 800 



1915 800 



1916 1500 



This is an average for the last four years of only 1450 specimens as 

 against an average growth of over 4O0O for each of the preceding seven 

 years. The number received during the year 1911 was over 6100 specimens, 

 but in 1914 and 1915 this was reduced to nearly 800. This reduction in the 

 rate of growth is due to the reduction in the amount of money available 

 for field work. The present rate of growth is quite inadequate to secure 

 pre-eminence for our collection. If we are to do this the rate of growth 

 must at least be restored to its former standard, and such restoration in 

 the rate of growth means that there must again be made available larger 

 sums of money to be devoted to this purpose. Now that the building in 

 the Park has been completed, I hope that this may be done. 



