9 



has purchased from Mr. E. Baeberlein a large collection of Solen- 

 hofen fossils, the duplicate of a collection purchased some time 

 ago from him by the British Museum; though, of course, it did 

 not contain its greatest treasure, the Archeopteryx. But by far 

 the most valuable accession we have received during the past 

 year is the collection of Silurian fossils of Bohemia, brought 

 together by the late J. M. von Schary, which has been purchased 

 from his heirs. This collection is of the greatest value to Ameri- 

 can palaeontologists, as it will give us the means of comparing the 

 types of the great collections which have formed the basis of the 

 works of Barrande and of Hall. Some idea of the magnitude of 

 this collection may be formed from the fact that it contains over 

 100,000 specimens ; of these probably two thirds of the collec- 

 tion, no less than 1231 species, representing 157 genera, are 

 identified. 



The whole collection was packed by Professor Hamlin, who was 

 sent out from the Museum on purpose to secure it. To Profes- 

 sor Poshepny we are under the greatest obligation for his services 

 in carrying out the negotiations which ended in the purchase of 

 this prize. The Schary collection, taken in connection with the 

 collections brought together from American localities, now makes 

 our collection of palaeozoic fossil invertebrates one of the finest 

 in existence. 



Among the collections purchased in Europe, I may also mention 

 a fine collection of green-sand fossils from Cambridge ; a collection 

 of fossil fishes from the upper Cretaceous of the Lebanon, Syria ; 

 and a good collection of Devonian fishes from Cromarty, Scot- 

 land, with a few specimens from the Mountain Limestone of 

 Armagh, Ireland. 



