1864.] SENATE— No. 22. 15 



ities are not readily perceived ; others contract so much when 

 preserved in alcohol, or lose their natural form and color to 

 such an extent, that they appear like shapeless masses in the 

 jars in which they are put up; still others are so delicate in 

 their structure that they can hardly be preserved at all. It 

 appeared nevertheless desirable that all these objects should be 

 exhibited to the eye of the student as fully as the largest 

 animals which from their very nature may easily be preserved 

 either whole or in parts. The simplest way to attain this end 

 was to have enlarged drawings made of all these objects, either 

 from living specimens or copied from works not readily acces- 

 sible to the students of natural history, in which satisfactory 

 illustrations may have been published. Many hundreds of 

 these diagrams have already been made by my friend Mr. 

 Bourkhardt, some of which are now on exhibition in the 

 Museum, and in a few weeks every available space in our 

 public rooms will be occupied by those which thus far have 

 remained in portfolios. This will greatly add to the interest of 

 our collections and form a novel feature in the Museum, which 

 I have no doubt will soon be imitated by others. 



Thus far I have limited myself, in the preparation of these 

 illustrations, to the least known species of animals and to the 

 representation of their intimate microscopic structure and their 

 mode of growth ; but of late, I have turned my attention also 

 to such illustrations as may contribute to give correct ideas of 

 the character of the local fauna of the present period as well 

 as of past geological ages. To this end I have collected the 

 best views of the characteristic vegetation of different regions, 

 either published in works of travel, or which I could obtain in 

 photographs from friends residing in distant lands. 



The amount of work done in the Museum, during the past 

 year, has been very great. It consisted chiefly in the separation 

 of the duplicates from the specimens to be retained for the col- 

 lection, and in identifying and systematically arranging those 

 retained. The special Reports here annexed, prepared by those 

 who have been intrusted with the care of distinct portions of 

 the collection, will give a more complete idea of what has been 

 done, and of what remains to be done, than is necessary to 

 notice in this General Report. I may, however, be permitted to 

 say that the arrangement of the Radiates is almost complete, 



