deMrtment of comparative Aisr atomy. 101 



The number of movable cases in the hall on the 30th of June was as 

 follows : 



Unit table storage cases 19 



Half unit table storage cases 8 



Total storage cases 27 



Unit table-top exhibition cases 18 



Half unit table-top exhibition cases 8 



Experimental anatomical case 1 



Door-screen case 1 



Alcove case - - 1 



Total exhibition cases 29 



The curator has been aided by Mr. F. A. Lucas, who has rendered 

 highly praiseworthy and eflQcient service in the double capacity of assist- 

 ant and preparator. The registers and card catalogues are kept in the 

 Department ®f Mammals, and are managed by the clerk of that de- 

 partment. 



The chief osteological preparator, Mr. Lucas, and his assistant have 

 worked continuously upon the enlargement of the exhibition series. 

 The work done in their laboratory is of the highest order, and is deserv- 

 ing of special commendation. 



REVIEW OF ACCESSIONS. 



Early in the year a large series of mounted skulls and skeletons of 

 North American vertebrates was received from the Army Medical Mu- 

 seum. The skulls included many interesting specimens in good order, 

 but the skeletons, especially of the fishes, were almost without excep- 

 tion in very bad condition and worthless for exhibition purposes. 



The principal accessions of interest were mammals and birds. Only 

 one fish skeleton, aside from those already mentioned, was received, 

 namely, a Polyptertcs. 



Mammals. — A large number of human skulls collected near Ancon, 

 Peru, by Dr. W, H. Jones, U. S. Is., and near Oaxaca, Mexico, by Louis 

 H. Ay me, were received in the early part of the year. Mr. Charles Euby 

 sent the skeleton of a wapiti. Among the collections made by Mr. L. 

 M. Turner in the Hudson's Bay territory were numerous reindeer skulls 

 with antlers. The skull of a California gray whale (UliacManectes) from 

 Kamtschatka was secured by Mr. Charles H. Townsend, and that of an 

 Atlantic right whale {Balwna cisarctica) from Southampton, N. Y., by 

 theU. S. Fish Commission (through ISTelson Burnett, esq., keeper TJ. S. 

 life-saving station). Mr. F. A. Lucas presented a fine skeleton of a 

 capybara {R. capybara), collected by Mr. William T. Hornaday, on the 

 Orinoco Eiver. A fresh specimen of Hoffman's sloth {Cholo2)us Koff- 

 mani), from which a skeleton was prepared, was presented by the Phil- 

 adelphia Zoological Society (through Mr. A. E. Brown). 



Birds. — A fine ostrich skeleton was received from the Central Park 

 Menagerie (through Mr. W. A. Conklin). Two cockatoos {Croseica- 



