1874.] SENATE— No. 200. 19 



ture of the class, and a good number of excellent prepara- 

 tions are already on exhibition. 



Our collection of annelids still remains abroad in the hands 

 of Professor Ehlers, but he is making good progress with 

 them, and in the meantime they could not be in better hands. 



Report on the Palceontological Collections, by O. St. John. 



On the removal of the Palaeontological collections to the 

 attic, occasion was taken to bring the invertebrate fossils into 

 more convenient general order, with especial reference to the 

 periods and epochs which they represent, and in a general 

 way their distribution has been further carried into classes 

 and subordinate groups ; this arrangement extending through 

 the entire collection, from the Primordial to the Tertiary, in- 

 clusive. Some conception of their extent may be formed 

 when it is understood that they are contained in above three 

 thousand trays. 



All vertebrate fossils, so far as they have been eliminated 

 (and, it is believed, little of this material remains in the col- 

 lections referred to above), have been transferred to the 

 charge of Mr. Allen. In like manner, the fossil fishes have 

 been collected together in the same room ; so that, at the 

 present time, with the exception of the comparatively small 

 number of these remains now on exhibition, probably nearly 

 all the resources of the Museum in this department are lodged 

 in the same apartment and readily accessible. 



Special work has been performed on the Devonian and Car- 

 boniferous divisions, and in the latter the final arrangement 

 of the Lamellibranchiata has been carried to an advanced 

 stage, and at this date the class is nearly ready for the exhi- 

 bition cases. In the progress of the work, much has been 

 accomplished towards preparing the other classes for a similar 

 disposition. In these two great periods, therefore, the col- 

 lections are ready for the more critical work of identification 

 and preparation for exhibition. I have been assisted by Miss 

 Cutler and Miss Atkinson in the prosecution of the work in 

 this department. 



