he has kept for comparison while working up the Crustacea of 

 the " Talisman." 



Professor Verrill still has in his possession the Alcyonoids of 

 the " Blake " expedition, and reports fair progress in their deter- 

 mination; he also reports that Miss Bush's paper on the Northern 

 Atlantic Mollusks collected by the "Blake" during the expedi- 

 tion of 1880 is nearly ready for publication. 



Professor Milne-Edvvards's Memoir on the Paguriclse of the 

 " Blake " is now in press. The plates have been completed, and 

 we hope to publish it early this winter. 



Considerable progress has also been made in the press-work of 

 the Special Bulletin No. 2 of the National Museum, which will 

 contain the Deep-sea Fishes of the " Blake," by Professor Goode 

 and Dr. Bean. 



We have received during the year an anonymous contribution, 

 to be applied to the increase of Dr. Hagen's salary. The Cor- 

 poration have kindly consented to assume a part of Dr. Hagen's 

 salary, and charge it upon the retiring allowance fund. This 

 has enabled me to engage Mr. Samuel Henshaw to devote some 

 time to the care of the collection, and to superintend its use by 

 specialists. 



Among the principal additions to our collections I ma} 7 men- 

 tion two skins of the Wingless Rail from the Sandwich Islands, 

 presented by the Hon. S. B. Dole of Honolulu ; also, by pur- 

 chase, a small collection of the principal birds of the Hawaian 

 group, intended for the Pacific Exhibition Room. 



From Ward we have obtained a magnificent alligator for the 

 North American Room. 



We have to thank Mr. Charles Wachsmuth for a number 

 of interesting Fossil Crinoids. 



The fine Rhytina skeleton presented to us by the Smithsonian 

 Institution has been mounted by Ward and placed in the Pacific 

 Room. We have also received from the National Museum a 

 cast of the well known Trilobite, with its appendages, described 

 by Mr. C. D. Walcott ; and from Mr. N. P. Miller, a collection 

 of Starfishes from Alaska. Professor Mitsukuri of the Impe- 

 rial University of Tokio has presented a fine Metacrinus, and 

 a Hyalonema from off Misaka, as well as specimens of Astacus 

 and of the Ditrema so common in Japanese waters. From a 

 comparison of this viviparous perch with our Californian Em- 



