REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 7 



by Mr. Olcott and presented to the State Museum of Natural 

 History.* 



Mrs. E. Emmons has presented to the Museum a miscella- 

 neous collection of fossil and recent bones and other materials, 

 nearly all of which have been put in proper condition, and in 

 part arranged in place in the Museum. 



Additions by Purchase. 



The Museum has purchased of Prof. H. A. Ward, of Roch- 

 ester, three fine skins of Buffalo, a bull, cow and calf. From 

 Mr. Wallace, of New York, the Museum has purchased two 

 skins of shark, CarcTtarias cceruleus De Kay, and one ray, 

 Pastinaca Jiastata De Kay. 



General Work of the Museum. 



During the past year the assistants in the museum have 

 been faithfully engaged in the work allotted to them. 



In Geology and Palaeontology, Mr. R,. P. Whitfield has 

 been chiefly occupied in the preparation of fossils for arrange- 

 ment in the museum, the labelling and distribution of dupli- 

 cate fossils into sets for the educational institutions, with a 

 short period of field work. 



Mr. Lintner has been engaged in collecting and arranging, 

 numbering and recording the various collections of shells 

 which have been received at the Museum during many past 

 years, and also incidental miscellaneous work in the Museum. 



Mr. C. E. Hall was for some time engaged in mounting the 

 antlered skulls, the stuffed fishes, preparing skulls and parts 

 of skeletons for special study, with general miscellaneous 



* This jaw has been reported to us as the specimen mentioned by Dr. De Kay in 

 the Natural History of New York, Zoology, Part I, page 131 ; but it is not probable 

 that it is the same, — it is larger by measurement, a considerable part of the skull 

 is wanting, and other bones which accompany our specimen are not alluded to by 

 Dr. De Kay. The reference is as follows : 



" Rorqualis australis. In 1837, the skull of a large whale was exhibited in New 

 York, under the imposing name of ' Fossil Head of the Sea Serpent.' It was re- 

 ported to have been dug up near Balize, Louisiana, and was in the condition of a 

 grave-yard bone. It had been probably stranded, and subsequently covered by 

 the rapidly forming sediment of the Mississippi. The lower jaw was wanting. 

 The skull, with the upper jaw, was perfect, and measured fifteen feet. After a 

 careful examination and comparison, it was identified with the Rorqualis australis, 

 or Balaznoptera of the Cape of Good Hope, described and figured by Cuvier. (Oss. 

 Foss., vol. 5, part 1, p. 370, pi. 26, figs. 1, 2, 3, 4.) A reduced figure from a larger one 

 taken on the spot will be found on plate 33, fig. 4." 



