gan ; the Bement collection, illustrating the Stone age 

 of Denmark, and the two-thirds purchase of the rare 

 and carefully selected collection of Col. Charles C. Jones, 

 Jr., of Georgia, containing the specimens described and 

 figured in his " Antiquities of the Southern Indians." 



The very important collection of implements used 

 by the prehistoric men of the valley of the Somme, in 

 northern France, numbering over three thousand 

 carefully selected specimens, which was brought 

 over by Mr. H. de Morgan, from Amiens, has been 

 purchased and deposited by the President of the Mu- 

 seum. It is stated to be the most complete and valu- 

 able series of such objects extant, (that of Boucher de 

 Perthes, at Abbeville, only excepted), and will afford 

 to investigators of that popular branch of Natural 

 Science in America, a means of comparing their spec- 

 imens with a standard series of the earliest Stone age 

 in Europe. 



The purchase of the Hall Collection, has made 

 the Departments of Geology and Palaeontology so 

 important, that the services of a special curator have 

 been required, and Prof. R. P. Whitfield has been em- 

 ployed to take charge of that part of our collections. 

 He has unpacked and placed in the cases of the upper 

 exhibition hall, the types and rarer specimens of the 

 " James Hall " and other collections, and is now pre- 

 paring a series of maps, to show by different colors the 

 areas of the surface of our continent occupied by the 

 several formations. 



Valuable gifts have been made to this department, 

 by Mr. Robert L. Stuart and Professor Hall. 



The Wolfe gift of the Jay collection of books on 

 Conchology, is placed in a library specially prepared 

 with cases and shelves of iron. Important works have 



