E.—7

5

shells in exchange; Mr. Murray (per Editor Otago Witness), swamp-rail; A. Philpott, Invercargill, collection of moths ; R. Shakespear, Little Barrier Island, earthworms ; Mr. Sherry, fossils from Ahuriri Flat; H. Suter, Auckland, annelids from various parts of North Island ;J. Crosby Smith, Invercargill, native slugs ; G. M. Thomson, Dunedin, rare crab ; J. A. Thomson, larvae of aquatic fly ; Mr. Tannock, Dunedin, a kea ; Rev. A. Webster, Wainui, shells in exchange. Gifts of specimens of New Zealand birds, fishes, or insects will be most acceptable, and will be gratefully acknowledged by the curator. Our collection is very poor in ethnological objects, and I desire to increase this part of the Museum. I shall be especially glad to receive articles from the South Sea Islands ; and, although the present building is not very suitable for the purpose, I trust that as the collection increases we may be able to obtain funds for adding a concrete wing in accordance with the original design of the architect. Research. The following are the more important memoirs that have been published by me during the last seven years, or are in the press, founded on material accumulated in the Museum : " Notes on the Viscera of Notornis," " On the Larynx of Certain Whales," " On the Anatomy of Cogia," " Notes on the Osteology of the Short-nosed Sperm Whale," " An Account of the External Anatomy of a Baby Rorqual," " Note on an Entire Moa's Egg in the O.U. Museum," " Remains of a Gigantic Fossil Cirripede," " The Sipunculids of New Zealand," " On a New Species of Leech recently discovered inJNew Zealand," "An Apparently New Species of Regalecus." These, together with some dozen or more memoirs on New Zealand earthworms, have appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Microscojdcal Science (London), in the Proc. Zoological Society, the Geological Magazine, and in the Trans. New Zealand Institute. Teaching-collection. In addition to specimens added to the public portion of the Museum, I am continually adding new preparations to the teaching-collections in the biological laboratory. During the past year the taxidermist has set up several new preparations to illustrate the comparative anatomy of vertebrates, such series of short pieces of vertebral column of various cartilaginous fishes (chimsera, sturgeon, sharks, &c), to illustrate the development of the vertebral column; the larynx of turtle, lizard, and seal; the pectoral girdle and fin of ceratodus, ling, and lizard ; transverse sections of head (showing gill) of shark and bony fish. The Museum has been open, as usual, on every day of the year, with the exception of Good Friday, Christmas Day, and Labour Day, and on a few other occasions during the absence of the taxidermist. The Museum apparently affords a means of interest to a very large number of people, young and old, for on Sundays and holidays several hundreds visit the building on an afternoon.

The Medical School: Report of the Director (Professor John H. Scott, M.D., M.R.C.S.). There are now 88 students attending the school; of these, 27 are in their first year, as against 20 in 1904. Last year's graduates numbered 6. Thanks to Government assistance much-needed improvements have lately been carried out, and the school has in consequence been materially strengthened. The chief of these is the appointment of a professor of physiology, and the separation of that subject from anatomy. Dr. Malcolm, who held the position of lecturer on chemical physiology in the University of Edinburgh, has been appointed to the chair, and is now in charge of the new department. The teaching of pathology has also been rendered more thorough by the addition of a summer course on the subject. This has enabled the lecturer to devote more time to practical work and to bacteriology. Clinical tutors in medicine and surgery have been appointed, and are doing valuable work.