34 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Apr. 



the imperfection of labels and other kindred defects. The work 

 was accordingly done somewhat roughly, though the best the 

 circumstances would allow, the determination of many details 

 being left gradually to appear as the fruit of other labor and 

 more critical examinations. 



My next aim was the separation of the organic forms of the 

 several horizons, according to faunas. In other words, I 

 endeavored to throw the fossils of each geologic stage into 

 divisions answering to the localities or basins, to which they 

 geographically belong, and thus into faunal sections. This task 

 also was accomplished, at first only in an approximative man- 

 ner, the full working out of many points being left to come as 

 the matured result of future and more detailed investigations. 



A third aim all the while had in mind, and carried out by 

 degrees, involved the separation of each faunal division into 

 minor divisions, accordingly as the specimens belong to the 

 class of Polyps, of Acalephs, or of Bryozoa. This work has 

 been carried forward with a good degree of success ; it is, how- 

 ever, as yet, far from complete, there being up to the present 

 time, much doubt whether given groups be Polypian, Acaleph- 

 ian, or Bryozoan Corals ; in other words, whether they should 

 be systematically arranged as Polyps, Acalephs, or Mollusks. 



Another aim which has been kept prominently in view, has 

 reference to the accurate recognition and bringing together of 

 all specimens of the same species, as well as the arrangement 

 of them in groups according to their affinities. Of course, this 

 work involves the separating from each group of all alien speci- 

 mens, and their removal to other circles to which they are akin. 

 In connection with this aim, not a little care has been taken to 

 verify the systematic names inscribed on the labels, so far as 

 any appear ; also to discover and record the earliest distinctive 

 designation, description and figure of each species. This task, 

 indeed, has been entered upon, and carried forward with great 

 painstaking in some portions of the collection. While, however, 

 much has been done in this direction, the work as a whole, is 

 only just begun, and will require an immense amount of labor 

 and patient investigation, in order to its satisfactory completion. 

 It must thus be evident that not a little preliminary work has 

 been already accomplished on the fossil corals, — work which is 

 necessary in order that they may be at once safe, and studied 



