1866.] SENATE— No. 67. 15 



which added several valuable skeletons to our stores ; the col- 

 lections of Mr. C. Cooke, from Zanzibar, which he brought 

 home himself, having been compelled by ill-health to return to 

 this country at the time when his appointment as United States 

 Consul at Mozambique promised to enable him to spend further 

 time in making large collections ; a small collection cf fossils 

 made along the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, 

 in Missouri, which we owe to the facilities granted by the 

 directors of the company to Messrs. Ward, St. John, and myself. 

 For the other contributions I would refer to the following special 

 reports. 



Report on the Vertebrates, by Alex. Agassiz. 



During the past year the collection of Birds and Mammals 

 have been in charge of Messrs. Niles and Allen, the latter being 

 engaged in cataloguing and separating duplicates. After his 

 departure for Brazil, nothing has been done in this department 

 except taking care of the new specimens received. Mr. Sceva 

 had been at work during about six months preparing some of 

 our skeletons for exhibition ; he was, however, obliged to leave 

 his work unfinished on his departure with the Brazilian expe- 

 dition. All the mounted specimens received from the Jardin 

 des Plantes have been placed on exhibition in the large cases of 

 the public rooms. Among the most valuable receipts are the 

 numerous specimens of embryos we continue to receive ; the 

 collections sent by Mr. Layard ; a series of skeletons from New- 

 foundland, and the invoices of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 The collection of Fishes and of Reptiles has been in charge of 

 Mr. A. Agassiz, but with the exception of a few of our common 

 species sent off in exchange, no time could be devoted to the 

 arrangement or cataloguing of the specimens. The collection 

 of Reptiles has been increased by an unusually large number 

 of original specimens sent by Mr. Layard and Prof. A. Aug. 

 Dumeril, Prof. Keferstein and Mr. Theobald, and Mr. Roberts, 

 from Macacos. The Fishes have also received similar additions 

 of identified specimens, sent through Professors Gegenbaurand 

 Haeckel. Among the donations the collections sent from 



