12 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Apr. 



research among us, and in educating the present generation of 

 naturalists. 



It is not asking too much that these collections should now 

 be exhibited to the public, and I can truly say that were all 

 our treasures fairly laid out, so that the whole could be seen at 

 a glance by intelligent visitors, our citizens when visiting simi- 

 lar institutions abroad, could with pride point out what Massa- 

 chusetts has done for science, and confidently affirm that their 

 Museum fears no comparisons. Indeed, the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology should no longer be looked upon as a State 

 institution ; so far as its intrinsic value is concerned it has 

 acquired a national importance. 



Report on the Fossil Plants, by Leo Lesquereux. 



No report has as yet been made on the Fossil Plants of the 

 Museum. It is therefore advisable to examine in some detail 

 the different collections, or parts of collections, now in this 

 department, in order to establish a reliable point of comparison 

 for further communications on their increase and improvement. 



The Museum possesses, — 



1st. A splendid collection of tertiary fossil plants of Europe, 

 the specimens of which, in a perfect state of preservation, have 

 been furnished and named by Professor Heer, of Zurich. It 

 includes representative and characteristic species of three stages 

 of the Tertiary — Oeningen, Schrotzburg and Upper Rhone, and 

 contains eight hundred specimens, representing more than one 

 hundred and fifty species. This is by far the most valuable 

 part of the collections of fossil plants, and has not its equivalent 

 in any museum of America. 



2d. A collection of tertiary plants from the basin of Paris, 

 part of the cabinet of Mr. Duval, bought in 1859, contains 

 splendid Fucoids, large dicotyledonous leaves on tufa, and a lot 

 of less valuable specimens from various parts of Europe — in all 

 one hundred and sixty-eight specimens. 



3d. In Bronn's collection, besides sixty specimens of tertiary 

 plants from various localities of Europe, there are seven speci- 

 mens of Cretaceous species and fifteen of the Jurassic and Lias 

 formations. It is but a poor representation of the two last 



