MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 7 



placed on exhibition in the room with the Scott collection of 

 North American birds. Though as yet limited in extent and 

 incomplete in some respects, the series has proved of great popu- 

 lar interest. The method of mounting is extremely simple, wholly 

 without accessories, and yet one that allows a considerable 

 number of nests and birds to be shown in a limited space 

 without a crowded effect. The nests and accompanying birds 

 have been mounted by Mr. Nelson, who has devoted not a little 

 time towards collecting new material. For other contributions 

 towards this exhibit, the Museum is indebted to Mrs. E. H. Hall, 

 Messrs. Thomas Barbour, H. B. Bigelow, H. A. Purdie, G. P. 

 Putnam, Roland Thaxter, and G. H. Thayer. 



The room devoted to animals under domestication has been 

 opened, and the specimens ready for exhibition have been 

 installed. 



Work on the material selected for exhibition in the Mesozoic 

 room is well in hand, but the opening of the room is necessarily 

 deferred until next year. 



Nearly the whole of the research series of fossil crinoids has 

 been transferred to the new room above the Divinity Avenue 

 entrance hall ; another storage case will be required before all 

 the fossil echinoderms can be brought together. 



The Museum is under obligations to Messrs. Faxon, Brewster, 

 Woodworth, Bangs, and Bigelow for the care they have taken of 

 the collections under their charge. The accompanying reports of 

 the Assistants give the usual details as to the additions received 

 and the work accomplished during the year. 



Mr. Agassiz spent about two months of exploration in the West 

 Indies in the steam yacht " Virginia." Starting from Porto Rico, 

 the " Virginia" worked as far south as Grenada and thence back 

 to Santiago de Cuba. Considerable surface and intermediate col- 

 lecting was done ; the cruise also enabled Mr. Agassiz to accumu- 

 late additional information concerning the structure and history 

 of the islands, and to check the results of his earlier investi- 

 gations among them. Mr. Agassiz was accompanied by Drs. 

 Woodworth and Bigelow as Assistants. 



The Library contains 43,518 volumes, and 38,026 pamphlets, 

 1,097 volumes, and 1,704 pamphlets having been added during 

 the year. 



Three numbers of the Memoirs, thirteen numbers of the Bul- 

 letin, and the Annual Report, a total of 658 (112 quarto, 546 



