00 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1821. 



Several additions to the exhibits of fossil vertebrates resulted from 

 the work in that section diirinfi; the year. A skeleton of Brnehijcera- 

 to'ps 1/iontanensis, unique in being the smallest horned dinosaur yet 

 discovered, forms a most interesting addition to the exhibits illus- 

 trative of the Ceratopsia. Mr. N. H, Boss is to be highly commended 

 for the excellence of the mount, which in some respects proved to be 

 a most difficult subject. It might also be mentioned that the Na- 

 tional Museum now has mounted skeletons of the smallest as well 

 as the largest individuals of this race of dinosaurs, and, indeed, the 

 only ones of their kind in any museum in the world (pi. 2). 



Mr. Boss also prepared the skeleton of the smallest lizard, Smiiwa 

 ensideris, the type, specimen, which had been in the Museum for the 

 past 50 years in the condition as received from the field and described 

 by Leidy. Instead of consisting of but a few bones, the specimen 

 was found to have the greater part of the skull, the backbone, and 

 numerous other bones preserved. This is a most important specimen 

 from a historical standpoint, being the first Varanicl lizard to be de- 

 scribed from North America ; also, it is now known to be the most 

 perfect skeleton of its kind as well as the most ancient. 



The work of mounting the skeleton of the fossil wolverine, Gulo, 

 from the Cumberland cave deposit, reported as under preparation 

 last year, has been completed by Mr. Home, as has also that of a com- 

 posite mount of a bear. There are now on exhibition three skeleton 

 mounts from the material collected from this deposit several years 

 ago by Mr. Gidley (pi. 3). 



Mr. Home has also completed mounts of the skulls of Monoclonms 

 ■fl,exus and Eleflias j^rimigenius and cleaned and restored the miss- 

 ing parts of eight large Oreodont skulls from the Miocene of Oregon. 



A number of Titanothere skulls have been prepared for use in a 

 special exhibit comprising some 26 individuals now being installed 

 in a new case in the southeast comer of the exhibition hall. Mounts 

 for more than half of these are made, and the work is well under way. 



Mr. Barrett was engaged for the entire year in preparatory repair 

 work, chiefly on specimens from the study collections. Special men- 

 tion should be made of the complete overhauling of the many trays 

 of miscellaneous Titanothere materials. Scattered parts of indi- 

 viduals were assembled, broken bones repaired, and the material ar- 

 ranged in standard trays in the steel cases, thus rendering them 

 easily accessible. Several hundred individual bones of the Cumber- 

 land cave material, several small collections received from the United 

 States Geological Survey, a large cetacean skull from the diatom de- 

 posits of California, numerous Ceratopsian fragments, and a consid- 

 erable portion of a wolf skeleton have also received attention. 



