REPORT OF THE 



PROSECTOR 



TO THE BOARD OF MANAGERS. 



T BEG to submit the following report of the operations of the 

 ^ Prosector's Department for the year 1917 : 



During the year 119 specimens were received from the So- 

 ciety's collections, distributed as follows: 



Primates 30 Edentates 1 



Carnivores 19 Birds ^6 



Ungulates 9 Reptiles 17 



Rodents 10 Amphibians ^ 



Marsupials 8 — ~~" 



Total 119 



The routine work of the department has been carried on as 

 usual, and a number of important preparations have been added 

 to the permanent collections. 



The receipt of three specimens of the remarkable Australian 

 lizard T rachysaurus rugosus, made it possible to investigate the 

 structure of this form in detail, with a number of interesting 

 results among which the bilateral caecal pouch is important as 

 furnishing the first prototype found in a reptile of the avian 

 condition. 



The material received during the year has been of great 

 value in the continuation of the Department's investigation of 

 the morphology and phylogeny of the mammalian respiratory 

 tract. Notable accession came from the Marsupial collection, 

 Dendrolagus, Bettongia, Macropus giganteus and robustus. The 

 lung of the little Cyclothurus proved of the utmost interest and 

 significance. In the Hystricomorphs and Miisteliclae, two groups 

 of exceptional importance in the phylogenetic interpretation of 

 the mammalian lung, valuable data were added by the specimens 

 of HystHx, Erethizan, and Galictis. 



