10 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [May, 



By Purchase, 

 48 specimens, 18 species, skins from various parts of New Eng- 

 land ; skeletons of Alces malchis, Ursus arctos and Lupus ameri- 

 canus, from Northern Maine ; 56 specimens, 18 species, skins, from 

 Florida. Also 60 skulls, 20 species, from New England and 

 Florida. 



Report on the Birds, by J. A. Allen. 



In consequence of other duties, the arrangement of the Birds 

 has not advanced during the past year so much as in some 

 previous years, or as much as was anticipated when last year's 

 report was prepared. Little has been done on the alcoholic 

 collection further than to look after its safety. Some three 

 thousand skins, recently added, have been entered on the gen- 

 eral catalogue, while the provisional systematic arrangement of 

 the whole collection of skins has been completed, and sys- 

 tematic catalogues of all the alcoholic North American birds 

 have been prepared ; as also of a part of the North American 

 skins. Much more time than is usual has been required to check 

 the inroads of destructive insects, to the attacks of which the 

 skins of the birds, as well as those of the mammals, have been 

 thus far exceedingly susceptible. Only a very small part of the 

 collection, however, has been infected, and no serious loss has 

 resulted. The collection is now apparently entirely free from 

 these pests, and it is confidently expected that by transferring 

 the collection of skins to the tightly-closing tin cases which 

 have been ordered for them, and a part of which have already 

 arrived at the Museum, no further trouble from this source will 

 be experienced. 



The additions made during the past year embrace 938 skins and 

 alcoholic specimens, representing about 450 species, and about 

 120 eggs. The most important invoices consist of a lot of 132 

 specimens of beautifully prepared skins, representing 82 species, 

 from the vicinity of Jalapa, Mexico, purchased from Sr. Rafael 

 Montes-de-Oca ; another of 72 specimens of European birds, and 

 another of 65 specimens from New South Wales, acquired by 

 exchange, the first from Dr. H. Dohrn of Stettin, Prussia, and 

 the other from the Australian Museum. A collection of 470 

 specimens, chiefly mounted, received from the Harvard Natural 



