6 



COMPARATIVE ZO-OLOGY. 



[June, 



The private laboratories are eight iu number, each devoted 

 to a specialty of the wide range of topics embraced in the 

 orofanization of the Museum. It would lead me too far were 

 I to describe these laboratories in detail, but I shall in my 

 next report submit a full account of them and the objects for 

 which they were instituted. I would only state now that the 

 books relating to the diflferent specialties are kept in the 

 laboratories, an arrangement which greatly facilitates the 

 work of all. 



The exhibition rooms have been more than doubled, owing 

 to the addition of one story to our building ; unfortunately 

 they cannot yet be thrown open to the public, our means 

 being insufficient for the present to provide the necessary wall 

 cases and other appliances to protect the specimens from 

 injury by ignorant or careless visitors. 



The time has not yet come for a full report on the results 

 of the Hassler Expedition, especially on that part of the 

 work which concerns the Museum of Comparative Zoology in 

 Cambridge. Only a portion of the collections forwarded 

 from various ports have arrived, and of these but a small 

 part has been unpacked. I can, however, state that the con- 

 tributions of this ex[3edition to Natural History have even 

 exceeded my hopes, and that the Museum is enriched by a 

 vast amount of material, covering the whole field of Zoology, 

 including the Natural ffistory of Mankind, that of marine 

 mammalia, marine birds, reptiles and fishes. Especially are 

 our collections of fishes, mollusks, Crustacea and radiates 

 enlarged, and though I have spoken particularly of marine 

 animals, because our opportunities were better for collecting 

 at sea than on land, yet we have not neglected fresh-water 

 and terrestrial specimens whenever it was possible to obtain 

 them. All these collections, so far as that mode of presei-va- 

 tion was suital)le for them, have been put up in alcohol, and it 

 may give some idea of their magnitude if I state that more 

 than 3,500 gallons of alcohol have been consumed in packing 

 them. Any enumeration of these objects is impossible at 

 present. The mere examination of the collections and placing 

 them in such a condition as to ensure their permanent safety 

 will be a six months' labor for our whole corps of Avorkers at 

 the Museum, and even the possibility of this initiative work 



