MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Jan. 



[A.] 



ANNUAL REPORT 



Of the Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology on 

 resuming his duties in 1866. 



By Louis Agassiz. 



As the work of the Museum for the past year was conducted 

 by the assistant in charge, A. Agassiz, I submit his report as a 

 part of mine, referring to it, in connection with the reports of 

 the other assistants, for an account of the active operations of 

 the Museum during the closing academic year. 



EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT, 



By Alexander Agassiz, Assistant in Charge. 



The very large collections obtained by the Brazilian Expedi- 

 tion, so generously fitted out by Mr. Thayer, while they have 

 added greatly to the value of the Museum, have necessarily 

 impeded the regular work of the institution during the past 

 year. The invoices arrived so frequently, and the mass of new 

 material was so great, that the labor of all the assistants in the 

 Museum was scarcely sufficient to keep pace with the influx of 

 specimens. It was therefore necessary to interrupt, for a time, 

 the ordinary preparations for exchanges. Fortunately we were 

 not largely in arrears, and as none of our more recent exchanges 

 have suffered any delays we are not indebted to other institu- 

 tions for any considerable amount. The departments of con- 

 chology and entomology suffered less disturbance, and in spite 

 of the numerous interruptions, the accompanying reports will 

 show a degree of activity in that part of the work which com- 

 pares favorably with that of previous years. The other depart- 

 ments, especially those of vertebrates and radiates, were, 

 however, necessarily neglected, from the causes above stated. 

 As the Museum had not the means of engaging additional aid 

 to meet the unusual exigencies, the assistant in charge was 

 obliged to devote his time almost exclusively to the care of the 



