REPORT OF DEPARTMENT OF MAMMAL-. 135 



connection with the section of osteology. It was at first intended tlia: 

 the different species of mammals should be as well represented by skel- 

 etons as by mounted skins, but this plan was in the end found imprac- 

 ticable and was finally abandoned. 



Although the performance of so considerable amount <>f work for a 

 special purpose has kept the regular work of the department In abej 

 ance, it is hoped that the Museum may benefit i>\ it ultimately, both by 



the addition of the mounted specimens to its exhibition series and on 

 aOOOUnl of the experience gained by the taxidermists in rapid work. 



INVESTIGATIONS PROSECUTED DURING THE YEAR 1884. 



During: the winter of 1883 and the spring of 1884 the curator was 

 engaged in studies upon the cetacea in the European museums. Find- 

 very difficult to identify the material which has accumulated in 

 the department of mammals, he conceived the idea of examining for 

 himself the types of Gray and other writers, which are still extant in 

 the museums of Europe. With this intent, and also for the purpose of 

 studying certain details of museum installation, he visited the following 

 establishments : Royal College of Surgeons, London ; British Museum 

 of Natural History, London; University Zoological Museum, Cambridge; 

 University Zoological Museum, Oxford; Norwich Museum; Public 

 Museum of Science and Art, Liverpool ; Museum of Art and Industry, 

 Edinburgh ; Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris ; Zoological Museum, 

 Leyden, and a number of less important institutions. The types of 

 toothed cetaceans of Gray, Flower, Cuvier, Gervais, Schlegel, and 

 others were examined and measured. The report upon this investiga- 

 tion is unfortunately still unpublished, owing to the pressure of other 

 work, but it is the intention of the curator that it shall be finished and 

 sent to the printer at an early date. 



These studies are intended as a basis for a monograph of the toothed 

 whales of North America, preparations for which are already well 

 advanced. The collection of cetacea in the National Museum is unques- 

 tionably the finest in America, and includes a large number of type- 

 specimens. The work can therefore be partially completed without ref- 

 erence to other collections, although the latter must in the end be con- 

 sulted. 



The necessary work upon the cetacea is so great that the curator 

 scarcely hopes to be able to extend his researches upon the mammalia in 

 other directions for the present. 



In addition to the insectivores sent to Dr. G. E. Dobsou, of Netley, 

 England, in 1883, a large number of shrews have been confided to his 

 care for comparison with the great series already in his hands. The 

 family Soricidw will be treated of in the third and concluding part ot 

 his work upou the insectivores, the first two sections of which have 

 already appeared. 



