42 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.  [Feb. 
the purpose of exhibiting collections arranged to show the his- 
tory of life. Where, as in the Oxford, Heidelberg, and other 
university museums, buildings have been constructed to hold 
scientific collections, they have been designed to contain other 
museums besides the zodlogical, and have thus had their shape 
partly determined by the needs of other departments. The 
great collections of Europe are crowded into buildings which 
were not planned for their accommodation. The liberality of 
the people of Massachusetts has given to zodlogical science the 
first, and as yet the only structure erected for its sole use. 
The work of cataloguing the collections of fossils has been 
resumed. This work has been nearly finished in the order of — 
Brachiopoda, and is already well advanced in the Lamellibran- 
chiata. Over twelve thousand (12,000) lots of fossils have 
been entered on the lists, and corresponding numbers written 
on the one hundred thousand specimens they contain; thus 
permanently securing those specimens against loss from acci- 
dental displacement. The arrangement of the Brachiopoda into 
its proper subordinate groups, and the separation into the differ- 
ent geological and faunal divisions, has been carried so far that 
the greater part of the specimens are in order for the work of 
placing on tablets for exhibition. The collection of Brachiopoda 
now in our hands, is one of the most extensive, if not the most 
complete in the world. We have added to the large and valu- 
able collections purchased from Bronn, De Koninck, Campiche, 
and many others in Europe, very large collections from the most 
important American localities. Every effort will be directed 
towards making this collection of fossils useful in the devel- 
opment of our knowledge of the history of life on this continent, 
by increasing our stores of American fossils, and by extending 
the work of comparison of our own species with those found in 
other regions. As soon as the whole collection has been secured 
against mischance by the system of cataloguing and number- 
ing, it can then be intrusted without danger to students and 
preparators for study and for the work of preparing for exhi- 
bition. The completion of the series of racks now being built 
to hold the two thousand drawers in which our fossils are stored, 
will greatly facilitate the work of arrangement and enable us 
to have all our materials readily accessible. © 
