In Retrospect 29 S 



up a brilliant career studying the ancestral fishes to enter 

 another field, in which he has also distinguished himself 

 handsomely: the study of cores brought up by mechani- 

 cally driven tubes which, forced into the sea bottom, provide 

 a picture of the results of submarine sedimentation and 

 hence of geologic history — details which a few years ago 

 no one ever dreamt of. 



In vertebrate paleontology we got off to a bad start, but 

 now that Professor Alfred Romer has come from Chicago 

 to take charge of these fossils, the collection has at last 

 begun to grow. Professor Raymond has for many years had 

 charge of the invertebrates, which is a gigantic collection, 

 numbering close to a million specimens and contained in 

 no less than 5549 trays. Our early primitive reptiles of 

 North and South America are good and our mammal col- 

 lection is growing fast. 



The collection of Crustacea is growing well in Fenner 

 Chace's hands. He estimates that he has 1 500 type specimens 

 and probably 200,000 specimens in all. I can only make a 

 short statement concerning the other marine invertebrate 

 groups — corals, jellyfishes, sponges, worms, and so on. 

 There are probably about 800 types and 3380 lots of 

 specimens in these categories which are not well repre- 

 sented in most museums. They frequently tend to accentu- 

 ate the interest in conspicuous or spectacular material. We, 

 on the other hand, have made a sincere attempt, at least, to 

 build up a collection which is thoroughly well rounded. 



This all sounds as if I were a hideous boaster, but I think 

 for the sake of the historical record it is worth while taking 

 note of the material which this Museum contains at the date 

 on which I am writing. 



