EEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1913. 29 



from the most generalized types to the orang, chimpanzee, gorUla, 

 and man. At the western end of the hall are skeletons of carnivores, 

 pinnipeds and small whales, followed by those of other mammal 

 groups, noteworthy among which are the Asiatic and African ele- 

 phants, the giraffe and the American bison. Provision has been 

 made for suspending the skeletons of whales of medium size from the 

 ceiling, but for the skeletons of large species accommodations must 

 be found elsewhere. After the mammals come the birds, reptiles, 

 batracliians and fishes, completing the systematic series. Notable 

 among these are the skeletons of snakes, beautiful in their curvature 

 and repetition of uniform detail, and the cartilaginous skeletons of 

 certain fishes, which require to be displayed in a preserving fluid. 

 Next, in a single case, is illustrated the comparative skeletal anatomy 

 of the vertebrate classes by means of the articulated and disarticu- 

 lated skeletons of a fish, a tailed amphibian, a frog, a lizard, a turtle, 

 a bird, a monotreme and a mammal. At the eastern end of the haU 

 are several cases of anatomical representations in the form of prepar- 

 ations from the animal body itself and of finely executed models. 

 The collection ends with an illustration of the chemical constituents 

 of animal bodies. 



Systematic series. — Beginning at its juncture with the west wing, 

 this series extends through the western section of the west range 

 and some 90 feet into the northern section. It does not, however, 

 occupy the entire width of the range, as the space between the line 

 of piers and the court walls is used for special topics. The total 

 floor area devoted to the subject is about 8,460 square feet. 



This collection is designed to present a general review or synopsis 

 of the animal kingdom, arranged in systematic sequence from the 

 lower to the higher groups. The family is the lowest subdivision 

 recognized, one species being used for each, except where great 

 variety of form exists within the family, when some of the more 

 divergent types are added. With the vertebrates, except some of 

 the lowest forms, the representation is restricted to external form 

 and characters, the internal parts being elucidated by the anatomical 

 coUection above described. With the invertebrates, however, the 

 complete structure, so far as it is brought out in any part of the 

 exhibition, is illustrated in this series. A wide diversity of method 

 for the representation of forms has been caUed for. Preparations 

 of the animals themselves have been utilized to the fullest extent 

 possible and compose the great bulk of the collection. For the 

 minute forms and for such larger ones as are still among the desid- 

 erata of the Museum, recourse has been had to models and drawings. 

 For some of the largest vertebrates of which it is impracticable to 

 display full-grown specimens, young individuals or pictures have 

 been substituted. The whales have presented the greatest diffi- 



