48 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Feb. 



[C] 



EEPOET 



Of the Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, for the year 

 1859, presented to the Board of Trustees in January, 1860. 



The Museum of Comparative Zoology is now organized in such a 

 manner, that its rapid increase may be considered as secure. The 

 time when it may rank with the largest establishments of the kind 

 now in existence will depend solely upon the amount of money that 

 can be annually appropriated for its increase. Its resources consist 

 at present in the income from the Gray Fund, the grant of the State, 

 and the capital secured by subscription during the past year, part of 

 which has been spent in the new building, now nearly completed, and 

 in the purchase of several important collections. 



Among the means best adapted to raise the Museum to the first 

 rank among similar institutions, I would point out, as the most prac- 

 ticable, the purchase of all the private collections that may be for 

 sale, which contain the labors of distinguished naturalists during a 

 lifetime. Next to this, I would recommend the publication, in a suit- 

 able form, of all the investigations that are now making in the 

 Museum. 



There are now, besides myself, nineteen individuals connected with 

 the Museum, whose work I am daily directing, superintending, and 

 revising, and the amount of materials accumulated and arranged 

 during the past year is truly astonishing. I doubt whether any 

 Museum has received, during the last twelve months, as large acces- 

 sions dS ours ; and I am satisfied, that if the means are provided to 

 make known all that is new to science in these large stores, our 

 Museum will very soon be ranked among those that contribute most 

 largely to the progress of science, as I know it already deserves a 

 place among those in which most work is done. With two exceptions 

 only, all the individuals now connected with the scientific work of the 

 Museum are either students or graduates of the Scientific School; 

 and it is but justice to them to say, that I daily receive essential 

 assistance from tneir co-operation. 



