4 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Jan. 



how much it has grown in the interval, not only by the crowded state of 

 the shelves and cases in the halls open to the public, but by the encum- 

 bered state of the laboratories, where many hundred boxes full of speci- 

 mens, already examined, arranged and labelled, are waiting for space in 

 which properly to display them as means of instruction, while as many 

 more specimens preserved in alcohol are packed away in barrels, care- 

 fully arranged and labelled, put in the cellar instead of being exhibited 

 in transparent jars as they would be, if there were room in which to do 

 it. The Committee, however, are happy to believe that all these 

 important collections are at least safe both from loss by fire, to which 

 they were long exposed, and from any injury by decay against which 

 skill and forecast can protect them. 



" Equally obvious with the increase of the specimens in the Museum 

 is the proof that a great amount of work has been done during the past 

 year, so as to bring them into exact order, and render them instructive to 

 all who are interested in natural science, or wish to make a study of it. 

 For this purpose, the greater part of the duplicates have been separated 

 from the specimens reserved for teaching ; — those that are to be perma- 

 nently retained have all been identified as to their character and origin, 

 and are marked accordingly ; — each specimen of the whole vast number 

 has been so far cared for that it can immediately be found, whether 

 wanted for the purposes of study or for exchange, — and in every division 

 active work is going on for the final catalogue, some portions of which, 

 by means of the liberal appropriations of the Commonwealth, are in 

 course of publication ; — many hundred wood-cuts having been finished 

 with their explanations, and many hundreds more being now in the 

 hands of artists. It may reasonably be hoped, therefore, that without 

 any delay, except such as may arise from the nature of the work itself, 

 the contents of the Museum may soon be made interesting and useful to 

 many persons in the State who cannot visit it ; while at the same time 

 such a catalogue will do honor to the institution among scientific men 

 everywhere, and gain accessions to its collections, both by the contribu- 

 tions of the friends of progress in knowledge, and by more and more 

 valuable exchanges from the museums of other countries. 



" But besides the great increase of the collections of the Museum, 

 and the important progress made in the catalogue, which are to render 

 these collections accessible and instructive, the institution itself has 

 during the past year been more active than it ever was before as a place 

 of direct, effective teaching. For not only have the usual courses of 

 lectures to undergraduates, to graduates and to school teachers, been 

 continued with their accustomed good results; but courses of lectures 

 open to all, whether connected with the university or not, and delivered 

 by persons not always among its regular officers or instructors, have been 



