10 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.  [Feb. 
As usual, I have had the collection of Fishes under my special 
care, and, though an immense amount of work has been 
bestowed upon their arrangement, not by myself alone, but also 
by Dr. Staheli, Mr. Bliss, and Mr. Lockwood, under my direc- 
tion, yet it seems as if the task grew, instead of diminishing 
under our hands. The specimens contained in thirty-nine kegs 
and barrels have been put up in glass jars, and distributed 
according to their species. Dr. Stiheli has revised some 10,000 
jars, containing the work of former years, and yet not half the — 
collection has undergone more than a preliminary arrangement. 
I have, however, begun monographic examinations of the Gon- 
iodonts, the Characines and the Gymnonotes, and Mr. Bliss has 
also made a beginning with the Chromids; while Mr. Lock- 
wood has been assisting me in the arrangement of the Char- 
acines, and Dr. Stiheli assorting the species contained in bar- 
rels. This work will be continued during the present year, 
with additional aids, and I have some hope of being able to 
complete the distribution of the whole collection in glass jars, 
though at this moment there remain three hundred and sixteen 
barrels of fishes unarranged in the store room. 
Mr. Theodore Lyman, who has charge of the fisheries of the 
State, has added to our collections in this department an inval- 
uable series of young fishes; especially of the family of Sal- 
monide and Clupeoids. ‘These specimens have been bred arti- 
- ficially in different parts of the country, and the value of the 
gift is greatly increased by minute information concerning their 
age, the conditions of their growth, &c. As often as possible, 
the specimens have been brought alive to the Museum, and have 
been drawn and painted from the life by Mr. Paul Roetter. 
We may in course of time have ample materials for a compar- 
ative embryological history of these families. I have already 
communicated to the National Academy some of my observa- 
tions upon the early stages of growth of the salmon, and Mr. 
Lyman is now engaged upon a comparative study of the differ- 
ent species of salmon living in our waters. 
The collection of Articulates has been not only overhauled 
in all its parts, but Dr. Hagen has completed a monograph of 
the North American Astaci, and has carried forward the gen- 
eral arrangement of the insects, which are put up according to 
the plan proposed by himself, and which I have sanctioned the 
