16 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Mar. 



Hartt, at Burlington, in Iowa, by Mr. W. H. Niles, and at 

 Nahant, Naushon, and Eastport, by myself and Mr. A. Agassiz. 



In the distribution and forwarding of the packages of this 

 large number of collections, I have been materially assisted by 

 the agents of the Panama R. R. Co., of the Pacific Mail S. S. 

 Co., by Messrs. Wells, Fargo & Co., by Mr. James M. Barnard, 

 by Messrs. H. C. Brooks & Co., Rufus Wills & Son, by Mr. 

 Isaac Taylor, Messrs. Glidden & Williams, B. K. Hough, Lee & 

 Brown, P. L. Everett, H. A. Pierce, and Captain James Ander- 

 son, who have at various times forwarded, free of expense, very 

 extensive invoices of specimens. 



The number of individuals who have taken interest in making 

 collections for the Museum is constantly increasing. 



During the past year sixty-three cans have been sent to forty- 

 five persons, and there have been returned thirty-eight cans 

 by twenty-three persons. There still remain outstanding nearly 

 one hundred cans, the greater number of which will probably 

 return during this year. I must mention especially among the 

 contributors of specimens, Capt. N. E. Atwood, who was inde- 

 fatigable in procuring for us specimens of Cetaceans in general, 

 and particularly a very fine right whale, captured in the vicinity 

 of Provincetown. I have to thank Rev. J. C. Fletcher, Messrs. 

 A. de Lacerda, Henry Sawyer, and Henry Hitch, for their con- 

 tinued interest in procuring South American specimens ; Gen. 

 Carlton, Lieut. Col. T. Lyman, and the Smithsonian Institution, 

 for several invoices of specimens ; Br. Marcus de Souza, and 

 Mr. T. G. Cary, for Indian implements and dresses ; Sir Alex- 

 ander Bannerman, and Mr. Henry Poole, for a large invoice of 

 fossils from Nova Scotia ; Capt. W. H. A. Putnam, for a large 

 collection of fishes from the East Indies ; Mr. T. Blake, for a 

 most interesting collection from Siam. 



The collections of fossils received at the Museum have been 

 kept separate thus far, and no attempt has as yet been made to 

 do more than render them easily accessible, but I hope that in 

 consequence of the appointment of Mr. N. S. Shaler as assistant 

 in Paleontology, their arrangement will now proceed rapidly. 



Among the most valuable accessions to the Museum, during 

 the past year, I would mention the splendid skeleton of a right 

 whale, and of other Cetacea, secured from Cape Cod ; a perfect 

 specimen of a mummyfied pinguin (Alca impennis), presented 



