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3.

In April also the Director offered a reward for the capture of a specimen of a spotted dolphin said to be abundant in the Gulf of Mexico.   A fresh specimen was soon afterwards received through Messrs.Warren and Stearns of Pensacola, Florida, and proved to be remarkably interesting scientifically.   On the 9th of April three telegrams were received from Live-saving-station keepers, announcing the stranding of cetaceans, two having reference to blackfish stranded near Cape Henry and the third to a fin-back whale ashore near Truro, Mass.   The most interesting cetaceans received during the half-year were a male Pygmy sperm-whale ([[underline]]Kogia[[/underline]]) and the skull of an Atlantic Right whale ([[underline]]Balaena cisarctica[[/underline]]).

Messrs.Barnum, Baily and Hutchinson, Mr. Adam Forepaugh and the authorities of the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens (through Mr. A.E.Brown) and the Central Park Menagerie (through Mr. W.A.Conklin) have continued to send many interesting animals in the flesh.

In June the chief taxidermist was ordered to New Orleans to superintend the packing of the animals exhibited in that city;  during his stay he negociated an exchange in behalf of the Museum by which three valuable specimens of Quadrumana were acquired, including a specimen of the interesting Gibbon, [[underline]]Hylobates concolor[[/underline]].   The New Orleans exhibit was not received at the Museum until after the 1st of July.   (For a detailed account of this collection see Museum Report, 1884, p.129).

At the beginning of the year an office and a commodious laboratory in the southwest pavilion of the Museum building was assigned to the Department;  the collections are