Annual Report.] 16 [May &■ 



days ; on Thursdays, by ticket, 52 days ; the average attend- 

 ance on public days has been at least 336. 



In the department of Mammals and Comparative Anatomy 

 a very desirable step has been taken, authorizing the Cura- 

 tor to obtain mounted specimens of all our New England 

 mammals; to make room for them the Ethnological collec- 

 tions will be removed. For several months the department 

 was left without a curator, but lately the objects have been 

 placed in better order, and recently acquired specimens put 

 on exhibition. The principal additions have been a black 

 bear and an antelope, both in a fresh condition, one received 

 from Mr. W. T. Adams, and the other from the City, through 

 Mr. J. Galvin. 



The collection of mounted birds has been rearranged so as 

 to bring it into more convenient view, and a case for .skins 

 completed, which will enable the Curator to arrange the 

 unmounted birds more safely than has heretofore been possi- 

 ble. In accordance with the request made in last year's 

 report, the collection of land birds of Massachusetts has been 

 enriched by a number of specimens, and especially by a 

 donation of twenty-five birds from Mr. L. L. Thaxter of 

 Newton. Mrs. Bryant has again laid the department under 

 obligation for a valuable and extensive collection of un- 

 mounted birds from the West Indies and Central and South 

 America, and Prof. Henry of the Smithsonian Institution has 

 presented eighty specimens of Costa Rican birds, all of which 

 have been labelled by Mr. Lawrence. 



The department of the nests and eggs of birds has been 

 entirely rearranged and newly labelled, and is now in a very 

 satisfactory condition. In round numbers the collection consists 

 of the eggs of seven hundred birds, viz : — four hundred Ameri- 

 can, two hundred European, and one hundred from various 

 parts of the world ; about one hundred and fifty of the whole 

 number are accompanied by nests ; this estimate includes a 



