8 Thirty-fifth Annual Eeport of the 



have been added by donation and exchange, six hundred and twelve 

 specimens, and by the purchase of special collections from the Utica 

 slate, three hundred and twenty specimens. 



To the library there have been added twenty-two bound volumes 

 and forty-four pamphlets. 



Current Work of the Museum. 



In the botanical department, the accompanying report of the 

 Botanist, Mr. Charles H. Peck, will give an account of the progress of 

 his work in the study of the fungi. The additions in this class from 

 his own collecting are noted above. 



A collection of the fungi has been classified and arranged in a large 

 case upon the second floor of the Museum. The number of species 

 amounts to sixty-three, of which three are of the genus Geaster, 

 three of Bovista, three of Scleroderma, fifteen of Lycoperdon, and 

 thirty-seven of Polyporus. In order to exhibit the different forms 

 and varieties these are distributed in one hundred and twenty-three 

 trays. 



In the zoological collections, Dr. De Tarr, the assistant in this 

 department, has added a collection of fresh-water shells made in 

 the vicinity of Albany. The collection in ornithology has been 

 partially rearranged, and a list of the species as known in the modern 

 nomenclature of this class has been prepared. Some progress has been 

 made in collecting information regarding the geographical distribu- 

 tion of the birds within the limits of the State of New York. Dr. De 

 Tarr has also communicated a paper on the species of rhizopoda found 

 in the vicinity of Albany. 



The collection of Unionidse, with sections of the shells and illustra- 

 tions of anatomical structure, mentioned in my report of last year as 

 being prepared by Mr. Simpson, is now in progress of arrangement and 

 will soon be placed on exhibition in cases, recently provided for this 

 and other collections, and arranged within the area formerly used as 

 a working room upon the second floor of the Museum, 



The collection of fresh -water and land shells prepared by Mr. 0. E. 

 Beecher will be placed on exhibition in the same area.* 



The bones of the whale, Eorqualis borealis, purchased in 1880, 

 were sent to Prof. H. A. Ward for preparation, and the maceration is 

 reported as so far progressed that the skeleton will be ready for 

 mounting some time during the coming summer. 



In the geological department, since the completion of the de- 

 scriptions of the Lamellibranchiata, considerable progress has been 

 made in the selection, arrangement and labeling of these fossils, of 

 which the Museum possesses large collections. Great delay has oc- 

 curred in the publication of these descriptions, owing to the non- 

 printing of the three preceding Museum reports. The descriptions 

 of these fossils, with some additional material, will be again communi- 

 cated with the present report, and we may expect their publication 

 during the present year. 



Considerable progress has been made in the selection, cleaning and 



*The new cases provided for this area, with some others arranged upon the same, will give 

 vis nearly two hundred and fifty feet additional case room under glass. 



