1871.] SENATE— No. 327. 27 



As the work has gone on, I have taken great pains to sepa- 

 rate from the mass of material, all specimens not needed in 

 making up the several collections of the institution. These 

 specimens, having been accurately identified in connection with 

 those reserved for Museum purposes, have been distributed into 

 separate lots and carefully labelled, the specific and generic 

 names, references to original figures, localities from which the 

 specimens came, their geological horizons, and other matters of 

 importance being given with scrupulous fidelity. They thus 

 constitute valuable material for exchanges, — material which, it 

 is hoped, will reflect credit on the Museum, and, as affording 

 valuable aid, prove acceptable to correspondents. 



This reminds me that an active correspondence has been 

 kept up during most of the year, with a view to the increase of 

 the Museum collections. As a result, the institution has al- 

 ready received, or is in a way still further to receive, valuable 

 specimens in exchange. For details in regard to exchanges, 

 reference may also be made to the report of Professor Shaler. 



A course of thirty-five lectures, On the Geology of Massachu- 

 setts, is now in progress. In these lectures it has been the aim, 

 while furnishing beginners with necessary instruction in element- 

 ary geology, to embody all the trustworthy results historically 

 thus far reached by previous local investigators, as well as the 

 fruit of considerable original examination of the rocks of the 

 State, thus to give the most complete exposition of its geology 

 up to this time rendered possible. 



The crowded state of the portions of the Museum now in use, 

 as well as the recent erection of additional parts, suggest the 

 hope that the specimens now crowded in drawers are destined 

 soon to be transferred to the new exhibition rooms, where as 

 duly mounted, labelled and arranged, they may perform their 

 part as public instructors, showing in their quaint and peculiar 

 way what they have to tell, at once of the past history and of 

 the present condition of the globe. 



Additions to the Collections Received. 



From Professor L. W. Bailey, in exchange. — 134 specimens, in- 

 cluding radiates, mollusks, articulates, and fish, from the palaeozoic 

 rocks of New Brunswick. 



From F. Layard, in exchange. — 9 landeilo trilobites, from Eng- 

 land. 



