12 COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Apr. 



Report on the Fishes, by Richard Bliss, Jr. 



Since the publication of the last report, the work of trans- 

 ferring the alcoholic fishes in the cellar from kegs to copper 

 cans has been completed, and all of the Museum collection is 

 now contained either in glass jars or copper cans, numbered 

 and systematically arranged on the shelves of the fish cellar. 



Dr. Edward Palmer of the Smithsonian Institution, has 

 recently gone over the whole collection of fishes in the 

 Museum, so that at present the collection is in as safe a con- 

 dition as is possible. 



The Hassler, Brazilian and Garrett collections were identi- 

 fied by Dr. Steindachner prior to his departure in June. I 

 have continued the work of identifying and cataloguing. In 

 this work I have been assisted by two special students, 

 Messrs. Murdoch and Brooks. Mr. Garman has been em- 

 ployed in carrying out the arrangement of the Selachians, 

 commenced under the direction of Professor Agassiz, who 

 had brought together a very extensive collection of that class 

 during the Hassler Expedition. A student's collection for the 

 benefit of those who desire to take a special course in Ichthy- 

 ology has been commenced. This collection will embrace the 

 typical genera of each family, and certain jars of mixed speci- 

 mens for practice in determining generic and specific differ- 

 ences. 



Among all the collections of fishes received during recent 

 years, none have exceeded in size and value that of the Hass- 

 ler Expedition of 1872. Embracing upwards of four hundred 

 species, many new to science, it includes representatives of 

 nearly all the marine fishes from New York to San Francisco ; 

 while in respect to the number of specimens it is only equalled 

 by that of the Thayer Expedition. Taken together these two 

 expeditions have given to the Museum a very complete rep- 

 resentation of the ichthyological fauna of South America. 



The Museum is indebted to Hon. Nicolas Pike, United 

 States Consul at Mauritius, for several large and valuable 

 collections of Mauritian fishes, both dry and alcoholic. These, 

 in addition to former donations from Mr. Pike, make our 

 collection of fishes from the east coast of Africa remarkably 

 complete. A small but very valuable collection of fishes from 



