1875.] 18T TDwight. 



October 20, 1875. 



The President, Mr. T. T. Bouve, in the chair. Thirty-one 

 persons present. 



Prof. Edw. S. Morse gave an account of farther investiga- 

 tions on the structure of the carpus and tarsus of birds, 

 which he had studied in many species of marine birds at 

 Grand Menan Island, during the past summer. 



Mr. S. H. Scudder presented to the Society a supplement- 

 ary note to his paper on the Fossil Myriapods of Nova Sco- 

 tia, which will appear in the " Memoirs." 



Dr. Thos. Dwight, Jr., made a brief report on the present 

 condition of the collection of Dr. Jeffries Wyman, exhibiting 

 a number of the more remarkable specimens in illustration. 



The Wyman Collection consisted of something over two thousand 

 specimens; from these were to be deducted a few pathological ones 

 left to the Boston Society for Medical Improvement. Some two 

 hundred and fifty invertebrates having been taken for other depart- 

 ments of our Museum, there came to the Department of Compara- 

 tive Anatomy probably about seventeen hundred and fifty specimens. 

 Many of these are of great value. Every specimen bears a distinct- 

 ive label, so that it may be separated from, those previously belonging 

 to the Society. Among the more remarkable specimens should be 

 mentioned the nearly complete skeleton (No. 1213, Wyman Cata- 

 logue) of a male gorilla, supposed to be the largest in any museum. 

 The skeletons of gorillas and chimpanzees added to those already 

 belonging to the Society, make our collection of anthropoid apes 

 probably one of the finest in the world. 



There are many very valuable series of specimens in this bequest, 

 as of hearts, digestive organs, etc., but two of them are preeminent, 

 namely, that of the nervous system and that of embryology. The 

 former of these contains dissections of the central nervous system, 

 which bear witness to the great skill of Dr. Wyman as a dissector. 

 The cranial nerves of a torpedo are beautifully shown. There is also 

 a collection of sections of bones, showing that they are constructed 

 on architectural principles, an account of which Dr. Wyman pub- 

 lished nearly thirty years ago. 



