MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 1 1 



The grant of $350. — made by the Corporation to aid in the 

 publication of Contributions from the Zoological and Geological 

 Laboratories has been used for numbers of the Bulletin which 

 have appeared in volume 53 and for plates to illustrate Professor 

 Woodworth's report on his expedition to South America. 



After the death in 1896 of Prof. J. D. Whitney, Sturgis Hooper 

 Professor of Geology from 1865-1896, his sister, Miss Maria 

 Whitney, took a keen and generous interest in the Museum and 

 its work. 



Her death on the 19th of January, 1910, is recorded with regret. 



The death of Mr. Agassiz on the 27th of March, 1910, takes 

 from the Museum one whose devoted service of more than fifty 

 years will never be equalled. 



In the first Report of the Director of the Msueum for the year 

 1859, acknowledgment is made of the receipt of a great number 

 of specimens from the Pacific Coast of Mexico, the gift of Mr. 

 Agassiz, at that time an Aid of the U. S. Coast Survey. For the 

 five years following, Mr. Agassiz's activities included the care of 

 the collections of several departments of the Museum, and in those 

 early days care comprised not only labeling and cataloguing, but 

 the assortment, distribution and arrangement of large masses of 

 material ; during one or more of these years Mr. Agassiz also at- 

 tended to the general superintendence of the Museum's business 

 and gave courses of instruction which were open both to College 

 students and to others. For the years 1865-1866, (7th and 8th 

 Reports), Mr. Agassiz was Assistant in charge, reporting as such 

 and also on the work done in special departments. From the date 

 of his return from the Thayer-Brazilian Expedition in 1866 until his 

 death in December, 1873, Professor Agassiz in all Museum affairs 

 relied upon the scientific judgment and business capacity of his son. 

 As the Executive head of the Museum Committee, Mr. Agassiz 

 made the Reports for the years 1873 and 1874. He was appointed 

 Curator in 1875 and Director in 1892 and held these offices until 

 his resignation in September, 1898. Since that date until his 

 death, he gave ready and hearty support to his successors. 



Such in brief are Mr. Agassiz's official connections with the Mu- 

 seum of Comparative Zoology, a Museum built, in every sense 

 of the word, by him; for although the general plan was in the 

 mind of its founder and in part worked out by him, the initial 



