226 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
Dynamical Zoology. 
If it were not for the great personal interest taken in tins depart¬ 
ment by the Curator, the difficulties attending its installation would 
have long ago led to its abandonment. Considerable work has 
been done in this direction by the Curator and Miss Bryant, but as 
usual the results appear to be small, owing to the peculiar difficul¬ 
ties that haye to be encountered in selecting specimens that will 
show the relations of organisms to their surroundings. 
/ 
Synoptic Zoology. 
The gratuitous work of Mrs. Sheldon in this department, as noted 
in previous Reports, still continues, and this and other aid received 
from her makes it possible to anticipate the final completion of this 
unique collection and the text of the Guide. The amount of good 
work put into this undertaking will then be in such a form that it 
can be understood and properly appreciated. The following sum¬ 
mary gives only the bare facts of what has been done, but does not 
convey any idea of the amount of work involved in the study of 
the literature and the careful judgment and investigation needed for 
the selection of the drawings and specimens mentioned. The prin¬ 
cipal work of the year has been upon the Crustacea, Arachnozoa, 
and Myriapoda. The types of all of these have been described, 
eighty for Crustacea, twenty-two for Arachnozoa, and eight for 
myriapods. The figures selected for illustrations of structure and 
development are as follows: forty-five for Crustacea, thirty-eight 
for Arachnozoa, and five for Myriapoda. Eighteen pages of the 
text on Arachnozoa have been written. A large amount of work 
has also been done upon the Insecta, in comparing different systems 
of classification, by the same assistant, who has also selected and 
described thirty types of this class and has picked out twenty-eight 
figures to illustrate the fossils, the primitive forms, and early stages 
of development; and she has also written fifty-one pages of the 
text of the Guide for this class. Forty-eight figures of various 
groups, coelenterates, echinoderms, pelecypods, cephalopods, and 
pteropods, have been completed, and the text of the Guide relating 
to these has been revised. A beginning has also been made upon 
theVertebrata, four types and ten figures of primitive forms having 
been selected and described, and some pages of the text written. 
Miss Martin has spent considerable time in making colored draw¬ 
ings for this collection, under the direction of Mrs. Sheldon. 
