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11.

in the vicinity of four hundred thousand specimens. The number received during the year has not been counted, as, for the safety of the material, much of it is still packed up. Not until our arrearages are cleared up shall we be able to state categorically the annual numerical changes in the collection which comprises so many minute objects, often some hundreds in a single box or bottle.

The number of entries in the museum-register during the period Jan.-June, 1885, inclusive, was 5457, averaging not less than 2.5 specimens each or nearly 14000 specimens, determined, labelled, catalogued and registered.

The fact that series of numbers have from time to time been set aside for the use of the Fish Commission collectors etc., and that this department has not in all cases received the list corresponding to these numbers to be entered in the register; and that gaps caused by haste or inadvertence have now and then been left unfilled in the older volumes of the register, have rendered it impracticable to determine the total