Annual Report.] 26 [May 5, 



The Curatorship of Reptiles was left vacant early in the 

 year by Dr. Wilder's acceptance of a Professorship in Cornell 

 University ; the Curator subsequently chosen in his place leav- 

 ing for the south soon after his election, has only just returned. 

 He reports the collection to be in excellent condition, but 

 poorly represented even in our own reptiles ; much labelling 

 remains to be done, and the proper identification of the species 

 is not completed. The Curator proposes to supply temporarily 

 some deficiencies in the representation of the Massachusetts 

 species, from the unlabelled specimens laid aside for anatomi- 

 cal purposes. He will also revise the whole collection with 

 care, and have skeletons prepared from the duplicates to illus- 

 trate the bony framework of at least each family. The 

 collection has been rearranged in the new gallery devoted to 

 it, and although not fully prepared for public inspection, has 

 been on exhibition for the first time during the past week. 



In the new room devoted to Fishes, and recently opened 

 to the public, the specimens have been reassorted in glass 

 jars and arranged in extended faunal divisions : thus, the 

 species from the fresh waters of North America, east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, form one collection ; the marine fishes of 

 the Atlantic shores, north of Cape Hatteras a second ; those 

 from the south of Cape Hatteras to Brazil a third, and the 

 species of the Hawaiian Islands a fourth. The collection con- 

 tains more than one thousand numbers, which have all been 

 entered hi the catalogue, and in many instances the species 

 identified and recorded under their proper names; but al- 

 though the collection is in a safe and accessible condition, it 

 cannot be considered in proper order until every jar shall 

 have its label for the information of visitors. It will re- 

 quire more time than the Curator can afford to identify and 

 name all the specimens ; and, unless some special arrangement 

 can be made, this work must necessarily proceed very slowly. 

 The collection is very deficient in the sea fishes of our neigh- 

 borhood, and a large outlay would be necessary to complete it. 



