Jan., 1922. Annual Report of the Director. 35 



todon and a restoration of the Moa. The Mastodon skeleton, which 

 had been disarticulated for moving, was reassembled and, in remount- 

 ing, some modifications were made. The tusks were reset so that 

 instead of curving outward as formerly, they were given a position 

 similar to that common to other members of the elephant family. 

 Some additional supports were provided for other parts, and the 

 entire skeleton was also cleaned and treated with shellac for the purpose 

 of further hardening and preserving the bones. The base supporting 

 the skeleton was refinished and all metal supports repainted. Adjoin- 

 ing this was placed the skull of the Yorkville Mastodon previously 

 exhibited and a skull of the northern Mammoth, which had not been 

 before on exhibition. The latter specimen, obtained from Wood- 

 chopper Creek, Alaska, where it had been found in gold mining at 

 a depth of one hundred feet, was complete and in good preserva- 

 tion except for one tusk. From the preserved tusk another was 

 modeled, a base was constructed and an excellent mount thus ob- 

 tained. The cast of Megatherium, which had been taken apart for 

 moving, was, before mounting, joined together, several parts which 

 had been broken for disjoining were restored and the whole cleaned, 

 coated with shellac and recolored. The base was also thoroughly 

 refinished. In the central isle of the hall the skeleton of the ex- 

 tinct Irish deer, after reassembling and cleaning was installed, as 

 was also a cast of the skull and tusks of the elephantine genus, 

 Stegodon, which had not been exhibited for several years on ac- 

 count of lack of space. This cast was thoroughly renovated before 

 installation and mounted on a base remodeled from a previous use. 

 Some renovations and repairs were also performed on other large 

 mounts in the hall, such as those of the fossil turtle, Colossochelys, 

 the jaws of the shark, Carcharodon, and the cast of the skull of 

 Dinotherium. In the paleontological laboratory attention was chiefly 

 devoted during the latter part of the year to preparation for exhibi- 

 tion of the skeleton of the Columbian Mammoth presented some 

 years ago by Mr. George Manierre. It was deemed desirable to 

 reconstruct the mounting of the skeleton so that a more nearly 

 normal position would be presented and to improve the prepara- 

 tion of the parts. Several coats of paint with which the bones had 

 previously been invested were removed by means of various sol- 

 vents and tools and some hardening treatments were given the) 

 parts, especially the excellent tusk. The skull of a modern ele- 

 phant which had previously been used in mounting the specimen 

 was discarded and a newly modeled one based on careful studies 

 of a more closely allied form supplied. Nine dorsal and three 



