5 



to these collections has been removed to the proper storage 

 rooms. 



* The Annelids have, as usual, been under the care of Dr. Mark. 

 There is nothing special to report on this collection ; the bulk of it 

 is still in Europe in the hands of Professor Ehlers. 



The Corals and Sponges have during the past year been in 

 charge of Mr. Fewkes, who has selected sets of duplicates of the 

 " Blake " Sponges for distribution, and commenced the arrange- 

 ment of the Halcyonoids for the Systematic Collection. 



A complete series of Blatschka glass models of Radiates has 

 been added to the Systematic room of tliat group. Two important 

 collections of Invertebrate palaeozoic fossils have been purchased 

 during the year, one the collection of Professor G. Washington 

 Taylor, principally rich in fossil Cephalopods, from the New York 

 Silurian. Also the collection of the Rev. F. H. Day, brought to- 

 gether during a series of twenty years, mainly from the Niagara 

 limestone of Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. 



During the past season Mr. Garman has been engaged in 

 collecting fossil Vertebrates in the Bad-lands, supplementing the 

 collection made by him from these localities during the previous 

 year. Mr. Charles H. Sternberg has also been engaged in collect- 

 ing for the Museum, and has brought together an admirable collec- 

 tion of Cretaceous Plants of Kansas. His collections, as well as a 

 collection of Duplicates of Western Tertiary and Cretaceous Plants 

 presented to the Museum by the Smithsonian, have been identi- 

 fied by Mr. Lesquereux, who has also examined a small collec- 

 tion made for the Museum by the Rev. A. Lakes, and a collection 

 of Carboniferous Plants from Cannelton. 



Mr. Sternberg, after making the collections of the Dakota 

 group, moved further West, and has explored some of the well 

 known Vertebrate fossil localities of Western Kansas. The collec- 

 tions of these explorations have arrived at the Museum ; a more 

 detailed report of their contents cannot be given at present, until 

 they have been more carefully examined. 



I may also mention among the valuable additions to the col- 

 lections the invoices of Captain Cole of the West Indian Tele- 

 graph Company. Besides a couple of species of Rhizocrinus and 

 some interesting Comatul^e and Corals, he has sent us a couple 

 of good specimens of Umbellularia from the comparatively 

 shallow depth of 160 fathoms, off the south coast of Porto Rico. 



