Annual Report.] 338 [May 3, 



lections of Australian sponges have also been received from 

 Dr. W. G. Farlow and others, so that the Society now pos- 

 sesses the finest dried collection of these animals in this 

 country. 



The Custodian spent the past summer with the Fish Com- 

 mission, under the charge of Prof. S. F. Baird, at Wood's 

 Hole. Here he enjoyed the facilities previously described in 

 these reports, and considerably enlarged the New England 

 Collection, for which the Society is indebted to the kindness 

 of Prof. Baird, the United States Commissioner, and Prof. 

 A. E. Verrill, Assistant in charge of the Zoological Department. 

 The appointment of Mr. R. Rathbun as Assistant in the 

 Royal Geological Commission of Brazil deprived the Society 

 of his services at a time when they were most needed, and cut 

 short the improvements which Avere so rapidly being made by 

 him in the New England Collection. The Custodian was as- 

 sisted in the summer work for a portion of the time by Mr. 

 Simonds of Cornell ; but this gentleman, also, received before 

 the close of the season the offer of a more desirable position, 

 and returned to Ithaca as Assist. Prof, in Paleontology. 

 Several models of the Mollusca were begun by Mr. Rathbun 

 and one was nearly finished by Mr. Simonds. These have 

 been completed by Dr. W. K. Brooks, Assistant in the Mu- 

 seum, and a number of new ones added. One of these, a very 

 handsome model of Sycoty}nis canaliculatus Gill {Busycon 

 cancdiculatum Stimpson), represents a donation by Mr. R. C. 

 Greenleaf, whose gifts enabled me to initiate the making of 

 these models. Dr. Brooks has also begun the preparation 

 of an accompanying suite of anatomical preparations for each 

 model. At his suggestion, also, an important addition has 

 been made, consisting of suites of models showing the 

 principal stages in the development of the characteristic 

 types of the Mollusca. Several families have now each 

 their model and anatomical preparations of the animal, and 

 the type forms of the generic groups have been picked 

 out and are shown as in the specimens exhibited in the case 



