MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. O 



To Col. John E. Thayer the Museum is indebted for the original 

 specimen of Parkman's Wren, {Troglodytes parkmanii), a speci- 

 men of scientific and historic interest. Collected by J. K. 

 Townsend along the banks of the Columbia, and described by 

 J. J. Audubon in 1839, the specimen was presented by Audubon 

 to Dr. George Parkman of Boston, and later acquired by Colonel 

 Thayer. It is in good condition, mounted on a twig with arti- 

 ficial accessories, and contained in a box of paper and glass, evi- 

 dently contemporaneous with the date (1841) when Audubon 

 wrote Parkman that the specimen "well mounted will soon be 

 on your chimney mantle." With the specimen, Colonel Thayer 

 gave Audubon's letter. 



The Museum is indebted to Miss Elizabeth Harris, representing 

 the heirs of T. W. Harris, for the plates of the latter's Insects 

 injurious to Vegetation; to Mr. A. B. Howell for a series of Cali- 

 fornian mammals and birds; to Mr. F. H. Kennard for several 

 North American birds; to Dr. Thomas Barbour for very many 

 mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, and various invertebrates; to 

 Dr. Malcolm Smith for a fine series of Siamese reptiles; to Prof. 

 W. M. Wheeler for series of ants and arachnids; to Mr. B. Preston 

 Clark for several Hawk moths (Sphingidae) and a number of 

 arachnids, myriopods, and insects from the Philippines; to Mr. 

 W. A. Hilton for annelids from southern California; to the U. S. 

 Coast Survey and the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries for a series of 

 Medusae and Siphonophorae from the western Atlantic; to the 

 Canadian Government (Geological Survey) for a series of Medusae 

 from the Arctic coasts of Canada and Alaska, and to Mr. J. H. Bradley, 

 Jr. for an exhibition specimen of Upper Ordovician sea-bottom. 



The F. E. Melsheimer papers acquired during the year, consist 

 of numerous note-books, lists, and catalogues, many of which relate 

 to the first large collection of insects brought together in the United 

 States more than 143 years ago by Rev. F. V. Melsheimer, the 

 father of Dr. F. E. Melsheimer, whose collection was purchased 

 by the Museum in 1864. The Melsheimer papers include numer- 

 ous letters from S. S. Haldeman, the Lecontes, J. G. Morris and 

 other early students of North American insects. 



Of the more important accessions received during the year, 

 mention should be made of a series of 105 skins of forty-seven 



