MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. V 



He also attended to the usual exchanges and loans, supervised the 

 use of the collection by graduate students and others, and com- 

 pleted a study of the Dogs of the American Aborigines, and one 

 on the cranium of a new fossil cetacean. 



Mr. James L. Peters was employed for five months assisting 

 Mr. Bangs in the arrangement and identification of the collection 

 of bird skins. 



Mr. W. F. Clapp's work upon the collection of mollusks has been 

 divided between the care of accessions, old and new, several thou- 

 sand lots, and a continuance of a study preparatory to a report on 

 the Mollusca collected by Dr. W. M. Mann in the Solomon Islands. 



Mr. George Nelson, whose skill and versatility as a Museum 

 Preparator has been noted in many recent reports, has mounted 

 for exhibition a number of mammals, birds, and reptiles, prepared, 

 mounted, and repaired many skins and skeletons of birds and 

 mammals, developed, restored, and cast many fossils; his knowl- 

 edge and expertness in photographic work, and his mechanical 

 handiwork have been most serviceable. Mr. Nelson's selection 

 by Dr. L. C. Sanford, as the Preparator to make over and remount 

 the Audubon Great Auk, was a deserved recognition of his un- 

 usual ability, and the result is most satisfactory and gratifying 

 alike to Mr. Nelson, Dr. Sanford, and the Museum. 



Mr. Richard Bliss, whose death occurred at Newport, 7 January, 

 1920, served as a Museum Assistant for several years, aiding 

 Professor Agassiz in the care of the ichthyological collections. 

 Professor Agassiz 's most interesting letter answering Mr. Bliss's 

 application for admission as a.special student at the Museum is 

 printed as Appendix B (infra p. 42,43). 



Additional letters of Louis Agassiz to Prof. Benjamin Peirce 

 and Dr. J. B. Holder, the latter the gift of "Sirs. C. F. Holder, have 

 been received during the year. 



The Library contains 57,414 volumes, and 59,986 pamphlets; 

 1,610 volumes and 2,278 pamphlets have been received during the 

 year. Mr. Brewster's bequest included, in addition to the books 

 and pamphlets already mentioned, William Stone's admirable 

 copy of Healey's portrait of Audubon, and a few Auduboniana 

 given Mr. Brewster by Audubon's granddaughter, Miss Maria 

 Audubon. From Mr. Banks the entomological section of the 



