12 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZO-OLOGY. [Jan. 



continents. The attendance to these courses has been quite 

 regular, and has shown a marked increase over former courses. 



The arrangement of the specimens on exhibition has been 

 slightly changed ; to make room for the mounted specimens of 

 mammals and birds sent by the Jardin des Plantes, the fossil 

 reptiles have been removed to the galleries, and their place 

 filled with stuffed specimens. The collection of insects has 

 been packed away, as, owing to their exposure to light, they were 

 rapidly fading, and hereafter only a small typical collection of 

 specimens which can easily be replaced will be left on exhibition. 

 The beginning of an ethnological collection, principally brought 

 together from California and the Cape of Good Hope, has been 

 placed in one of the cases by Mr. Glen, to call attention to this 

 department, which is still in an imperfect condition. It is to be 

 regretted that the number of exhibition rooms is not large 

 enough to enable us to follow the plan originally laid out for 

 the arrangement of the specimens ; this must be postponed 

 until additional room is supplied ; the Museum thus loses 

 much of its instructiveness, and this defect will become 

 greater each year. The want of room may even compel us to 

 place in the exhibition rooms specimens not properly prepared, 

 simply on account of the accumulations in the work-rooms, 

 which occupy so much of the space needed to take care of and 

 handle new invoices. A general collection, intended for lec- 

 turing purposes, has been partially placed in the gallery of the 

 lecture-room. 



I would call the attention of the trustees to the unsafe 

 condition of the cellar for storing the alcoholic collec- 

 tions. Owing to its dampness, the kegs in which the great 

 bulk of the collection is packed become unfit for use in about 

 three years. It requires constant watching to renew the leaky 

 ones, and it is impossible to avoid occasional loss of specimens. 

 The earthen jars and copper tanks thus far employed, with 

 which it is intended eventually to replace the kegs, are found 

 to work admirably, but the use of such jars would require a 

 considerable outlay at first, and we are not yet able even to 

 store new additions in them, although in course of time this 

 would be the most economical mode of packing our alcoholic 

 collections. 



