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the specimens thus registered are gifts from various residents in the city and Otago. Some have been collected by myself, others purchased. The more interesting have been placed on exhibition, and they have been noted above; others are stored —either for future research or for exchange. Foreign Zoology. —Under this head I need refer only to various insects kindly sent to me by Messrs. Bull and Burton, who receive them from the islands amongst fruit; also I owe thanks to Mr. Brookes for the gift of the legs of the trotter " Engineer," which have been placed in the showcase. Geology, &c. —ln addition to the casts of Mesohippus and Phenacodus and the collection of minerals from New Caledonia, presented by Mr. W. Manning, the most important acquisition is a collection of some fifty fossils from Australian Palaeozoic rocks, presented by Mr. H. Sargeant, A.O.S.M. These are extremely useful to me for teaching purposes. The stumps of fossil trees from Waikawa were given by Mr. Robertson, and various fossils by Dr. Marshall and others. Ethnology. —The gift of articles from Polynesia, <fee, by Mr. and Mrs. James Mills, and a few small objects from, other people. List of Donors of New Zealand Specimens. W. A. Bathgate, beetles and moths; Miss Bertha Brook, of Evans Flat, beetles; R. Browne, Geonemertes and Helicopsyche; N. L. Buchanan, of Nelson, various earthworms; C. W. Chamberlain, a fine cachalot's tooth; Dr. Chilton, of Christchurch, various annelids, a leech, &c.; Mr. Earle, a stone-fly; W. Fels, a Firoloides; Dr. Fulton, collection of birds' eggs; F. G. Gibbs, Nelson, various earthworms &c. ; R. Given, a fossil leaf; C. Hayward, fossil oysters from Catlin's ; R. Henry, of Pigeon Island, teal, thrush, and Doris; Dr. James Hudson, of Nelson, a large annelid; Mr. Jackson, of the Drainage Board, bones of seal dug up 12ft. below the surface; J. McLachlan, of Balmoral, larva of a fly; Dr. P. Marshall, rocks and fossils; Miss Mestayer, of Wellington, molluscs; A. Reynolds, of Round Hill, Southland, a Gordius worm; W. Robertson, of Waikawa, stumps of fossil trees; J. Patrick Shaw, gigantic wetas from the West Coast; Mr. Smith, of Middlemarch, a weta; Mrs. Spencer, a moth; H. Suter, of Auckland, numerous annelids, earthworms, some leeches, Notarchus, &c. ; Mr. Telford, of Clinton, a white-throated shag; G. M. Thomson, beetles: D. Thomson, earthworms, shells, &c ; D. W. Tomlinson, a Gordius worm; Captain Waller, s.s. "Victoria," two tuataras; W. Webster, of Inch-Clutha, a spider. To the above donors I have already sent formal acknowledgments of their gifts, and I should like to state that specimens of native insects, spiders, birds, fishes, &c, especially if uncommon, will be gratefully received and promptly acknowledged. General. During the coining year I propose to exhibit a small collection of birds and other objects at the International Exhibition. The work of a curator is not confined to looking after the exhibits: I riot unfrequently am asked to identify animals forwarded to me through the post or brought to the Museum, and I am always glad of the opportunity of giving such assistance. The Museum is, I am pleased to note, being utilised by school-teachers for purposes of instruction. Several batches of children have recently been taken round the collections by their teachers, and I should be glad to see more use made of the institution, especially if the teachers would have some definite aims, some definite objects to discourse upon, in taking their pupils round. lam endeavouring to make the collections as self-instructive as it is possible for one man to do by means of labels, but the task is a long one, and can only be carried on spasmodically at that time of the year when I am not occupied by teaching. The attendance of the public continues good, and it is to be regretted that we have no method of enumerating our visitors, who on holidays and Sundays amount to several hundreds during the day. The Museum has been opened every week day and Sunday throughout the year, with the exceptions of Good Friday, Christmas Day, and Labour Day, and on one or two other days.
The Medical School: Report of the Director (Professor John H. Scott, M.D., M.R.C.S.) The number of students attending the school during the present session is eighty. The new building containing the laboratories and other rooms required for the teaching of physiology was ready for use in time for last summer session, and this department is now in full working-order. The increased accommodation now makes it possible to teach the subject in a thoroughly practical manner, and this important branch of medical education is now receiving the attention that is its due. Greatly improved accommodation has also been provided for pathology. Various changes are also in progress in the anatomical department. When these are completed the specimens in the Museum will be displayed to much greater advantage; and a large reading-room containing many teaching-models and other things of use to students will be provided. The want of such a room has been felt for many years. A short course of lectures on mental diseases was given during the summer session. This should prove a very valuable introduction to the chemical work done at the Seacliff Asylum.
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