The United States National Museum 341 



Island, Doctor William L. Abbott in Africa, Seychelles Isl- 

 ands, Asia, etc. On some of these reports have been made." 1 



Of the Department of Reptiles and Batrachians, the Cura- 

 tor, Doctor Leonhard Stejneger, remarks : 



"The distinctive characteristic of the reptile collection in the 

 Museum is in the completeness with which it illustrates the 

 geographical distribution and morphology of the species in- 

 habiting North America. In this respect it stands unrivaled. 

 As the depository of the types of the species described by 

 Baird, Girard, Kennicott, Cope, and other distinguished 

 American herpetologists it also takes first rank. 



" The importance of the individual collections must there- 

 fore be judged with reference to their richness in such types 

 and the advance in our knowledge of the reptiles and batra- 

 chians of this continent that has ensued. The collections 

 which have undoubtedly contributed most in these respects 

 are those of the Pacific Railroad Surveys, the first Mexican 

 United States Boundary Survey, and the Wilkes Exploring 

 Expedition." 



The collections of fishes are almost exclusively North Amer- 

 ican, with one notable exception in the case of the deep-sea 

 fishes dredged by the United States Fish Commission 

 steamer Albatross in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. 

 The latter collection is of equal importance with that of the 

 Challenger expedition, if it does not surpass the same, and 

 formed the basis of the recent work of Doctor Goode and 

 Doctor Bean on " Oceanic Ichthyology." 



The Department contains the most extensive collections of 

 fresh-water and littoral fishes of the United States anywhere 



1 " Contributions to the Natural History of of Nests and Eggs of Some New Birds, col- 



Kerguelen Island, made in connection with lected on the Island of Aldabra, Northwest 



the American Transit of Venus Expedition, of Madagascar, by Doctor W. L. Abbott." 



l8 74-'75>" being Bulletin No. 3, United Proceedings of the United States National 



States National Museum. Also " Description Museum, Volume xvn, 1894, pages 39-41. 



