39* Field Museum of Natural Histobv — Reports, Vol. V. 



Ofder to ixrmit the placing of lar^c objc-cu. The u; : •. 1 * ( a < a .1 nUc 

 contain larRc specimens, slab mounts and single sktli loi.s. Aliogethcr 

 twenty-two alcoves of this form have been placed in the hall. A central 

 aisle, twenty-two feet in width, passes through the hall between the 

 alcoves, and this is utilized to some extent for the exhibition of large 

 mounts, such as those of the two dinosaurs Apatosanis and Triccratops, 

 the cast of the Megatherium skeleton and some single cases. The in- 

 stallation of all cases in the hall, numlx>ring sixty-six, has been essen- 

 tially completed. In general, the specimens were placed in the cases in 

 the same order and f)ositions which they had occupied before removal, 

 but wherever some improvement in sequence or appearance could be 

 made this was carried out. The precaution which had been adopted to 

 secure the safe transportation of some of the more fragile material, such, 

 especially, as wrapping dinosaur and other bones with paper and cover- 

 ing them with burlap and plaster, proved on unpacking to have been 

 ver>' successful, practically no breakage having occurred and the 

 appearance of the specimens not having been injured. This was espe- 

 cially gTatif>'ing in the case of the large Tricerato^js skull, the thin, 

 expanded bones of which were exceedingly fragile. The specimens yet 

 to be installed in this hall arc chiefly large and massive ones, such as the 

 gjeat dinosaur, Apatosaurus, the skeletons of the mastodon and mam- 

 moth and some large casts. The iron frame-work for the dinosaur has 

 been assembled but the erection of the specimen upon it has not yet 

 been accomplished. The enerpies of the staff were devoted so largely 

 to installation, that little opportunity was available for work upon the 

 study collections or in the laboratories. The study collection of syste- 

 matic minerals has, however, been placed in tra)*^, labeled and arranged 

 in order in drawers contiguous to the exhibit scries. Work in the 

 laboratories has largely been confined to repairs upon specimens, but 

 in the early part of the year opportunity was found to remove from 

 matrix and prepare for exhibition two large ribs, nine feet in length, 

 of the t>'pc specimen of Brachiosaurus. This material , as it came from 

 the field, is in so fragmentary a condition, that the task of preparing it 

 is a difficult and tedious one, but the unique character of the material 

 makes its preservation highly important. 



In the Department of ZoOlojj>', the year was devoted almost ex- 

 clusively to the work in connection with the removal to the new building. 

 P continued until April and was followed by the period of actual 



movuit during which members of the staff, office, and taxidermists' 

 force were a ---"d to specific tasks in checking the pieces out of the old 

 building ar. . :... . the new and in giving special care to such material 

 as required it. The entire collections of the department were moved 



