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Contributions and Exchanges. 1 His Excellency Governor "Weld, "Western Australia. 1 Professor Balfour, Edinburgh. 1 Professor McCoy, Melbourne. 1 Chairman of School Library Committee, Eton, Bucks, England. 1 Chairman of School Library Committee, Harrow, England. 1 Chairman of School Library Committee, Rugby, "Warwickshire, England. 1 President of Natural History Society, MarJborough College, Marlborough, "Wilts. 1 Colonel Jewett, New York. 1 Dr. Wojeikof, of St. Petersburgh. 1 Hon. Mr. Casey, Victorian Government. Libraries and Societies in New Zealand. 1 Secretary, Auckland Institute. 1 Secretary, "Wellington Philosophical Society. 1 Secretary, Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 1 Secretary, Nelson Association. 1 Secretary, Otago Institute. 1 General Assembly Library. 9 Provincial Council Libraries. , Publishing Branch. 1 Editor. 1 Assistant Editor, 2 Draftsman. 1 Lithographer. 1 Government Printer. Total, 97 copies. Museum. No additions or alterations have been made to the Museum building during the past year, and the only expenditure has been for a few eases and drawers to enable the collections of fossils made during the season to be sorted and examined. The accommodation for this and all other departments of the Museum is still quite insufficient, and the state of the building itself is such as to cause serious deterioration of the valuable collection which has been accumulated. Nothing short of the completion of the building according to the original plan will afford the accommodation that is now required for the arrangement of a type museum ; and even then, to obtain sufficient space to enable the collections to be thoroughly comprehensible and easy of reference, a number of the larger specimens will have to be disposed of by exchange or gift. An expansion of the department of the Museum devoted to the Vegetable Kingdom is urgently required, to meet the applications that are very frequently made for information respecting vegetable products. The number of specimens added to the Museum during the year has been over 20,000, of which 18,000 are fossils collected by the Geological Survey Department. About 600 specimens have been distributed as exchanges, and 205 bird skins have been presented to the Otago Museum. Mammalia. —Several additions to the Cetacean collections have been secured, among which is a complete skeleton of the Sulphur Bottom Whale, 70 feet in length, obtained in Port Underwood ; and also one of the Kn Back, procured for the Museum by Mr. Charles Traill in Stewart Island. The comparison of these skeletons, when they arrive at the Museum, will help to settle some important points in the natural history of this species. The skull of a calf of Neobalcena marginata, and several other interesting cetaceans have also been lent by the Auckland Museum, for the purpose of being described. Among the foreign mammalia the most important additions have been a fine collection of eighty specimens of the Rodents of North America, presented by the Smithsonian Institute, and twentyfour specimens of Reptiles from South Australia, sent by Mr. Waterhouse. Birds. —The chief addition to the New Zealand birds has been the acquisition of a largo number of skins of huias, kiwis, kakapos, and other specimens that, from their rarity, are useful for exchange. The only species added to the typo collection is a specimen of Procellaria lessoni, obtained from the Chatham Islands. Of foreign birds, the Museum has received from Mr. R. L. Holmes a fine series of those indigenous to the Kji Islands; also a collection, from the Northern Territory of Australia, from the South Australian Museum; and a selection of North American species from the Smithsonian Institute. A mounted collection of the New Zealand Raptores was sent by Dr. Buller from London, including a specimen of the great eagle, which is stated to have been shot off the East Coast of "Wellington. Reptilia. —In this section the chief additions are the snakes of Piji and South Australia, but the collections in this class are still very incomplete. Fishes. —Thirteen fishes have been added to the Fauna of New Zealand during the past year, the most interesting being those obtained in deep water off the coast by the " Challenger Expedition." A fine specimen of the Ceratodus, the fresh-water ganoid fish of Queensland, has also been presented to the Museum by Professor Wyville Thomson. Descriptions of some of these species will be found in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. Invertebrata. —Besides many additions to the New Zealand collection in this class, an interesting series of Crustacea and Annelida, from Spitzbergen and the Coast of Scandinavia, has been presented by Professor Loven. Valuable additions to our Australian and Tasmanian shells hayo also been received from Dr. Cox, Mr. Gritton> and Mr. Gordon Saxby;