1869. ] SENATE—No. 60. 11 
more readily, as it includes the simultaneous exhibition of the 
larval condition of these animals, as well as their perfect state. 
Mr. Anthony has been constantly busy this year, as during 
so many previous ones, in the arrangement of the living shells, 
and has brought this part of our collections nearer to its final 
order than any other in the Museum. More than 17,000 tablets 
are now ready for systematic arrangement and for exhibition 
as soon as the new building is completed. The separation of a 
special systematic collection and of faunal collections, deter- 
mined according to an investigation of their range of distribu- 
tion, and not, as is so often the case, based only upon a consid- 
eration of the physical character of the country in which they 
occur, has been fully carried out, and may in future serve as a 
guide for the arrangement of other types. And yet a very 
important part of the work remains to be done. The species 
are labelled according to the names under which they were first 
described, and this was done with the view of securing authen- 
tic identification. 
It will require a vast amount of research in the ultimate 
arrangement, to ascertain what are the generic relations of 
each and all of these species, as also to determine the family 
affinities of the genera. The combination of the families into 
natural orders is hardly begun. Mr. Blake is now engaged in 
drawing the characteristic features of the soft parts of our 
fresh water mollusks, with a view to illustrate the systematic 
collection. 
Messrs. Theodore Lyman and Alexander Agassiz share the 
work upon the final arrangement of the Radiates. The explo- 
ration of the deep-sea fauna of the Gulf Stream, undertaken 
by Mr. Pourtales at the direction of the superintendent of the 
coast survey, has brought to light an unexpected number of 
new species. The results of this valuable investigation were?’ 
given by Mr. Pourtales in the last two numbers of the Museum 
Bulletin. 
The institution is indebted to Professor Peirce for the pre- 
sentation of all the specimens collected during these explora- 
tions, the duplicates of which will be distributed to other insti- 
tutions as soon as they are completely assorted. 
The fossils have been entrusted to the care of three different 
assistants. Mr. Shaler has had general charge of the whole 
i 
