EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 125 



corrected, and the new materials described. A report upon this in- 

 vestigation remains to be submitted. Dr. O. P. Hay, who is en- 

 gaged, under the Carnegie Institution of Washington, in the study 

 of the vertebrate animal life of the North American Pleistocene 

 period, was furnished, as heretofore, with accommodations for his 

 Avork in the National Museum. Up to the present time his atten- 

 tion has been mainly directed to the larger land mammals, and pri- 

 marily to a correct determination of the species found and their rela- 

 tion to the various divisions of the Pleistocene, as now recognized. 

 In furtherance of this research he has studied the Museum collec- 

 tions as well as those elsewhere available, and is preparing important 

 papers, accompanied by maps, showing the geographical distribu- 

 tion of all reported finds, some of which have already been published. 



Paleobotany. — Three valuable type collections of fossil plants were 

 received from the Geological Survey, as follows: About 150 speci- 

 mens from Cape Lisburne, Alaska, obtained by Mi*. Arthur J. Col- 

 lier in 1904 and described by Dr. F. H. Knowlton; 168 specimens 

 from the Tuscaloosa formation of Alabama, described by Mr. E. W. 

 Berry; and a series of Cretaceous and Tertiary forms from South 

 Carolina and Georgia, described by Mr. Berry. Another accession, 

 comprising 45 specimens of fossil wood from the Leeward Islands, 

 collected by the Geological Survey and the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington during joint field work, was acquired by transfer from 

 the former and as a gift from the latter. 



The most important work of the year was the completion of a 

 card index of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic plants, which required the 

 detailed overhauling of over 2,500 drawers of specimens, by Mr. 

 T. E. Williard, of the Geological Survey, under the direction of Dr. 

 F. H. Knowlton. With the preparation of a similar catalogue of 

 the Paleozoic plants during the previous year, under Mr. David 

 Wliite, it is now possible to locate any parts of the paleobotanical 

 collections without delay. Moreover, no fossil plant material re- 

 mains in storage. 



Dr. Arthur Hollick, of the New York Botanical Garden, spent 

 over two months in a continuation of his studies on the Cretaceous 

 and Tertiary floras of Alaska, while Dr. E. W. Berry, of Johns 

 Hopkins University, was engaged in paleobotanic researches cover- 

 ing the Upper Cretaceous and Eocene strata of the Atlantic Coast 

 Plain. Both of these pieces of work, which are being based on the 

 Museum collections, are so extensive that several years will be re- 

 quired for their completion. 



Exhibition collections. — For the display of new accessions of im- 

 portant mineral specimens, awaiting opportunity for their proper 

 assignment, a Kensington case was provided near the east end of 

 the mineral hall, and it will be possible to keep it approximately 



