Report hy Manager. 13 



Yeiy extensive collections of birds from various parts of the world have 

 now accumulated, which it has been found necessary to place in drawers and 

 packing cases, so that at the present time they are inaccessible to the public, 

 and inconveniently difficult of access for reference. 



The most extensive recent addition to the collections in this department 

 has been that purchased from Mr. H. Travers, which consists of thirty-seven 

 species and 192 specimens from the Chatham Islands, some of which are new 

 to science or extremely rare. 



A collection of seventy birds of California has also been presented by the 

 Academy of Natural Science in San Francisco ; 114 birds' skins from Norway, 

 presented by Mr. J. Graff; forty-one European birds' skins, forwarded by Dr. 

 Buller ; and fifty-seven specimens of birds are on their way from Germany 

 having been sent in exchange by Dr. O. Finsch. 



The New Zealand birds' eggs have been mounted for exhibition, and the 

 collection has been enriched by the donation of fifty-six specimens of the eggs 

 of British birds, by Mr. T. H. Potts. 



The illustrated work on New Zealand birds, by Dr. Buller, referred to in 

 last year's report, is advancing through the press, the first two, out of the five 

 parts of which it consists, having reached the Colony, and the remainder of 

 the work is, I am informed by the author, already in the printer's hands.* 



The Catalogue of the Birds, with the diagnoses of the species, by Captain 

 Hutton, also referred to in last report, was issued in October last.t 



Fishes. — A collection of forty-six stuffed specimens, and forty-one skeletons 

 of the fishes of New Zealand, and ninty-two species preserved in spirits, has 

 been prepared and arranged for exhibition, to illustrate this important branch 

 of the Natural History of the country. 



The number of fishes now known to belong to New Zealand is 147 species, 

 of which only about fifteen are not represented in the above collection. 



The distinctive characters of the species have been given by Captain 

 Hutton, together with notes on the edible species by myself, in a work issued 

 from this department in May last.;}; 



I should also mention the valuable Osteological preparations which have 

 been made for the Museum by Dr. Knox, among which the following are 

 the most important : — Skeletons of a Moriori (female), the Sea Leopard, 



* "Birds of New Zealand," by W. L. Buller, Sc.D., 4to., with coloured plates of all 

 the species peculiar to the Islands. — Van Vorst, London. 



t "Catalogue of the Birds of New Zealand," by Captain Hutton, F.G.S., Assistant 

 Geologist, 8vo. , 85 pp. 



t " Fishes of New Zealand," Catalogue by Captain F. W. Hutton, F.G.S., Assistant 

 Geologist, and Notes on the Edible Fishes, by Dr. Hector, Director, with 12 plates, Svc, 

 135 pp. 



