funds are not withheld from this well-known American institution. We are told that the Commonwealth came forward most generously, and sustained, often under most unpropitious circumstances, the interest it had shown in the Museum. From the treasury of the Commonwealth no less than 240,000 dols. has been received at various times, and up to the beginning of 1895 more than 1,580,000 dols. (exclusive of income) has been received from all sources, including the State grants, the subscriptions of friends, and the gifts of the family of Prof. Agassiz.
This large sum is represented by the buildings, exclusive of the botanical and mineralogical sections; by the collections and the work expended upon them; by the library, and an extensive series of publications (twenty quarto volumes of Memoirs and thirty octavo volumes of Bulletins); and by an endowment of over 580,000 dols., the income of which is available for the salaries and running expenses of the Museum of Comparative Zoology and its allied departments.
The Thirty-ninth Anuual Report for the year 1896 of the Chicago Academy of Sciences has appeared, and the natural history collections of the Museum seem steadily increasing. This is particularly noticeable in the department of Mollusca. In 1895 the Academy acquired the collection of Cypræa, owned by Mr. Jno. Walton, of Rochester, N.Y., and the collection of Muricidæ owned by the Curator. "The first collection numbers 160 species and over a thousand specimens, among which are fine specimens of pulchra, aurantium, thersites, exusta, decipiens, leucostoma, &c. The Muricidæ number 112 species, represented by about 300 specimens, among which are a number of type-specimens, an excellent set of Magilus antiquus, showing tubular development, with the operculum, besides varietal sets of Purpura, Murex, Eupleura, &c.
