42 



uted among the specimens. Manuscript for printed labels for the en- 

 tire series was also prepared. 



In April the Commissioner of Fisheries offered a reward for the cap- 

 ture of a specimen of a spotted dolphin, said to be abundant in the 

 Gulf of Mexico. A fresh specimen was soon afterwards received 

 through Messrs. Warren and Stearns, of Pensacola, Fla., and proved to 

 be remarkably interesting scientifically. On the 9th of April three tel- 

 egrams were received from life-saving-station keepers, announcing the 

 stranding of cetaceans, two having reference to blackfish stranded near 

 Cape Henry, and the third to a finback whale ashore near Truro, Mass. 

 The most interesting cetaceans received during the half year were a 

 male pygmy sperm-whale (Kogia) and the skull of an Atlantic right 

 whale (Balcena cisarctica). 



Messrs. Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson, Mr. Adam Forepaugh, and 

 the authorities of the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens (through Mr. 

 A. E. Brown), and the Central Park Menagerie (through Mr. W. A. 

 Conklin), have continued to send many interesting animals in the flesh. 



In June the chief taxidermist was ordered to New Orleans to super- 

 intend the packing of the mammals exhibited in that city. During his 

 stay he negotiated an exchange in behalf of the Museum by which 

 three valuable specimens of Quadrumana were acquired, including a 

 specimen of the interesting gibbon, Hylobates concolor. The New Or- 

 leans exhibit was not received at the Museum until after the 1st of 

 July. (For a preliminary account of this collection see Museum report. 

 1884, p. 133.) 



At the beginning of the year an office and a commodious laboratory 

 in the south-west pavilion of the Museum building were assigned to the 

 department. In consequence of this arrangement the collections are 

 now more accessible than formerly. 



(b) Department of Birds. 



Mr. Ridgway, curator of birds, prepared for exhibition at the New 

 Orleans Exposition a collection of North American game-birds, num- 

 bering 163 finely-mounted specimens and representing nearly all the 

 species. The exhibit was at first intended to be much more compre- 

 hensive, the original plan being to exhibit all the known species of 

 North American birds, so far as they could be secured, together with 

 typical groups to illustrate the avian fauna of the several zoo-geographi- 

 cal divisions of the earth's surface. To this end more than 700 speci- 

 mens were mounted by special contract, it being impossible to make up 

 a suitable collection from the birds already mounted. The collection 

 had been nearly completed on the original x>lan, when it became neces- 

 sary, on account of the limited space available, to make a great reduc- 

 tion. This collection was installed by Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, assist- 

 ant curator, who, left Washington January 3 and returned on the 16th 

 of the month. Dr. Stejneger reports that "in regard to complete- 



