REPORT OF NATIONAL, MUSEUM, 1923. 89 



mains. The specimen proved to be valueless for museum purposes, 

 and from that standpoint the trip was a failure. In December, 1922, 

 Dr. J. W. Gidley was detailed to go to Melbourne, Fla., to investigate 

 a reported fossil deposit, but was compelled by illness to abandon 

 the trip before reaching his destination, and it has not been possible 

 to take further action in the matter. N. H. Boss made several short 

 collecting trips to the Miocene deposits along Chesapeake Bay in 

 search of fossil remains. As in previous years these trips were pro- 

 ductive in the recovery of well preserved cetacean remains. 



Late in the fiscal year, C. W. Gilmore and Norman H. Boss were 

 detailed to excavate remains of dinosaurs in the Dinosaur National 

 Monument, Utah. As the results of this work will not be known in 

 time to incorporate in this report, details will have to go over until 

 another year. It may here be stated, however, that for some time 

 the great desirability of this work has been uppermost in the mind 

 of the Head Curator, and he has been awaiting only a favorable 

 opportunity for its consummation. 



No major expeditions were undertaken in other divisions of the 

 department for want of funds. Assistant Curators Foshag and 

 Shannon, on their own initiative, made a brief trip to old copper 

 mines in Carroll County, Md., a district which, despite its proximity 

 to Washington, was practically unrepresented in the collections. A 

 large suite of copper and iron ores and associations was secured. A 

 day was likewise spent at the diabase quarry near Belmont Park, Va. 

 So much material of interest was found that Mr. Shannon conducted 

 the Washington Mineralogical Society over the ground on their 

 annual field trip. The specimens collected have been turned over to 

 the Museum. The limestone quarry at Leesburg, Va., was also 

 visited and interesting mineralogical material secured. 



y^ork of preserving and installing the collections. — A determined 

 effort was made to complete the work of unpacking and disposing of 

 the large amount of material transferred by the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey a few years ago. With the exception of a large lot 

 of well borings, the unpacking is now practically completed, but 

 some of the material is still awaiting the decision of Survey experts 

 as to its final disposition. The work has resulted in the locating of a 

 number, of type sets, including those illustrating an early Profes- 

 sional Paper on the Bingham District, Utah; illustrated specimens 

 from the Park City District, Utah, and from zinc and lead deposits 

 of western Kentucky; ar^ large collections upon which were based 

 studies by H. Foster Bain on various lead and zinc mining districts. 

 Other type sets, including series from the Alleghany and Weaverville 

 gold districts, in California, and the Tyrone District, New Mexico, 

 have been selected and arranged for preservation with the assistance 

 of the geologists from the Survey. 



