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ate in spite of our best efforts to preserve them. The spirits dissolve out the pigment of the hair causing it in most cases to assume a pale brown color. Such specimens give a false notion of the real colors of the species, and are useful to students of systematic zoology only for measurements.  The curator is not satisfied, therefore, that it is profitable to maintain so large an alcoholic collection and has seriously considered the advisability of converting a portion of the specimens into dry skins. Many gaps in the series of skins could thus be filled and there would still be an abundance of material for anatomical investigation.