14 MUSEUM OF COMPARRTIVE ZOOLOGY. [Mar. 



Every step towards the final arrangement of any part of the 

 collections naturally adds to the usefulness of the Museum. 

 Though open every day and at all hours, notwithstanding the 

 necessary limitations of the regulations, it was at first visited 

 by a few persons only. But as it became generally known that 

 all were invited to come, free of charges, and that the instruc- 

 tion delivered at the Museum was equally accessible to every- 

 body, visitors became steadily more numerous, and the attend- 

 ance of the lectures increased at the same rate. Now the 

 number of visitors is probably as large as in any similar 

 institution in the centre of a population like ours, and the 

 courses of lectures are regularly attended by large and attentive 

 audiences, whenever the subjects of instruction are of a popular 

 character, or, when more special, by the professional students 

 of our special schools. During the past year three courses, 

 one upon domesticated animals, another upon the methods of 

 study in Zoology, and a third upon the marine animals of the 

 Bay of Massachusetts, the two former by myself, the latter by 

 Mr. A. Agassiz, have been added to the regular courses of 

 Zoology and Geology delivered in the Museum to the members 

 of the Lawrence Scientific School and the senior class of the 

 undergraduate department, and to which the teachers of the 

 public schools are also admitted by right. This combination 

 of public lectures, with a large Museum, is a. feature which our 

 institution shares with the Jardin des Plantes, but which is 

 wanting in the British Museum, as well as in most other 

 European Museums. 



The exchanges begun two years ago have continued upon a 

 very satisfactory footing, and the Museum is constantly adding, 

 in this way, to its other resources, authentic specimens described 

 abroad, so that it is hoped that little by little the scientific tra- 

 dition of the Old World will be transferred to America, enabling 

 students in Natural History hereafter to find here what they are 

 now obliged to seek for in Europe, whenever they attempt to 

 make somewhat extended investigations. We are particularly 

 fortunate in having obtained, to this end, the assistance of the 

 Jardin des Plantes; and Professors Milne-Edwards, Valen- 

 ciennes, and Dumeril, have already made repeated invoices to 

 the Museum during the past year. The Museums of Vienna, 

 of Copenhagen, of Darmstadt, of Liverpool, of Stuttgardt, have 



