REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 31 
herbarium in accordance with the system of Engler and Prantl was 
continued, the families covered extending from Acanthacez (No. 266) 
to Compositz (No. 280). 
The preparators of the Department of Biology were kept: fully occu- 
pied. The mounting of mammals for exhibition was practically 
restricted to small specimens, and the taxidermic work in connection 
with both mammals and birds consisted mainly in preserving the skins 
of fresh specimens as they were received, in preparing and making 
over old skins for the reserve series, and in the constant renovation 
of specimens in both the reserve and exhibition series to prevent their 
deterioration. In osteology some 30 skeletons of mammals and birds, 
including a number of large forms, such as the bison, camel, and tiger, 
were roughed out and a few skeletons were cleaned. <A still larger 
work was the cleaning of mammal skulls, required for study in con- 
nection with the skins. The total number so treated was about 7,000, 
of which a large portion was from the collections of the Biological 
Survey. The chief modeler overhauled the collection of fish casts 
which has accumulated during the past twenty-five years, renovating 
those required for exhibition, the remainder being made up into sets 
for distribution to schools and colleges. He also prepared a number 
of casts of large and interesting reptiles, and cleaned about 1,000 
specimens of corals for study and exhibition purposes. 
In the division of systematic and applied geology much was accom- 
plished in bringing the reserve collections into better arrangement and 
classification. Good progress is reported as to the segregation of 
the record collections transferred from time to time by the U.S. 
Geological Survey. This required the overhauling of the entire 
series, including the cleaning of specimens and trays, the verification 
of labels, the elimination of duplicates, the rearrangement of the 
specimens in drawers, the preparation of lists and of catalog and 
bibliographical cards. By the close of the year all of the material 
from the surveys of the Pacific coast, the Great Basin and the Rocky 
Mountain States (except some material from Montana, Arizona, and 
New Mexico), and from Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas, 
had been gone over, although the lists were not completed. The 
specimens thus rearranged numbered about 15,800 and filled about 
360 large standard drawers. 
The purely petrographical material was stored in cases in the west- 
south range, the balcony of the same range, and the mezzanine story 
of the southwest pavilion. Nearly the entire duplicate series of this 
division was also overhauled, and approximately 12,500 specimens, 
accurately labeled, were made up into 225 sets for distribution to 
schools and colleges. Many thin sections of rocks were cut for deter- 
minative purposes, and numerous blocks and slabs of stone were 
prepared for exhibition. 
