76 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Feb. 



in this respect to F. W. Putnam, S. Scudder, A. Agassiz, as well as 

 to Messrs. Rice, Bo wd itch, Bickmore, and Morse. 



An important excursion to the island of Anticosti, the results of 

 which were very valuable to the Museum, was undertaken last sum- 

 mer by three of our students, Messrs. Verrill, Shaler, and Hyatt, with 

 the special purpose of determining the position and relations of the 

 geological beds there. The valuable collection made by them, in- 

 cluding some fifty barrels of fossil specimens, is exceedingly interesting 

 as affording materials for the determination of certain geological ques- 

 tions now in dispute. They brought back also a large collection 

 from the 'present fauna of this little-known island, and also large 

 numbers of the incubated eggs of the several species of sea-birds 

 breeding in that region, which formed a considerable addition to the 

 embryological collection of the Museum. Sir Edmund Head, Governor- 

 General of Canada, had the kindness to provide these young gentlemen 

 with introductions to the local officials, which were of great service to " 

 them, and they were indebted to Captain M. Small, and to Mr. U. S. 

 Treat, of Eastport, for much assistance in the labor of collecting. 



Professor Marcou has also explored the lowest fossiliferous beds of 

 Vermont and Canada, and has secured very interesting fossils for the 

 Museum, which are the more valuable since they establish beyond 

 question the existence of an independent fauna below the Potsdam 

 sandstone. 



The cataloguing of the Museum is proceeding as rapidly as the dif- 

 ficulty of the task will allow, and beside the mere inventories, special 

 monographs have been prepared of the Ophiurans, by Mr. Theodore 

 Lyman, of the Etheostomoids, by Mr. F. W. Putnam, and of the 

 Scisenoids, by Mr. S. H. Scudder, all of which are ready for publica- 

 tion. A revision of the species of Holconoti has already been pub- 

 lished by Mr. A. Agassiz. 



The ethnographical collection is slowly improving. A fine series of 

 Indian antiquities has been presented by Mr. J. T. Bateman, from the 

 Cherokee graves on the Rio Grande, and Mr. Theodore Lyman has 

 sent us from Europe a great number of photographs of the human 

 races. Mr. Hansen has also presented to the Museum some imple- 

 ments of the South Sea Islanders. 



Since the last of September, 1860, to the beginning of this month, 



