40 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



ant-eater, ami armadillo. Professor Owen lias, however, shown that the 

 Megatherium was a " ground-sloth," feeding on the foliage of trees, 

 which it uprooted by its great strength. The extreme length of the 

 mounted skeleton is 17 feet ; its height from the pedestal to the top 

 of the spinous i^rocess of the first dorsal vertebra is 10 feet G inches. 

 The length of the skull is 30 inches ; the circumference of the skeleton 

 at the eighth rib is 11 feet. 



Also in association with the 3IcgatJierium a cast has been placed in the 

 same room of the Colossochehjs atlas, a gigantic tortoise, a restoration 

 from fragments discovered in the Miocene strata of the Sewalik Hills, 

 India, and now in the museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. It is 

 8 feet 2 inches in length by 5 feet 10 in width. 



In addition to this, there has been set up a cast of the Gli/ptodon, a 

 representative in Pleistocene times of the armadillos of South Amer- 

 ica, the original of which was found in 1810, near Montevideo, on the 

 banks of the Luxan. It was presented by ordev of the Dictator Ptosas 

 to Vice- Admiral Dupolet, who gave it to the museum of his native cit^', 

 Dijon, France, where it is still preserved. 



The two last-mentioned specimens were purchased from Professor 

 Ward. 



The basis of the national museum is the collection of specimens 

 of the United States exploring expedition under Captain, now Ad- 

 miral, Wilkes, originally deposited in the Patent Office. It was trans- 

 ferred to the Institution in 1858, and since then has been very much 

 increased by the type specimens from upward of fifty subse- 

 quent expeditious of the General Government, and contributions re- 

 sulting from the operations of the institution. The character of the 

 inuseum will be properly exhibited for the first time after the various 

 articles are displayed in the new rooms now in preparation for their 

 reception. The museum is especially rich in specimens to illustrate 

 the subject of anthropology ; and it is proposed to bring these as far as 

 possible together in the new room in the second story, and to arrange 

 them so as to exhibit their connection and to illustrate the gradual pro- 

 gress of the development of the arts of civilized life. 



At present a portion of the large room in the second story is used 

 for the exhibition of the cartoons or original sketches made by the cel- 

 ebrated Indian traveler and explorer Mr. George Catlin. The object 

 of this exhibition is to induce the Government to purchase the whole 

 collection of Indian paintings, including sketches and portraits, there- 

 suit of the labors of upward of forty years of this enthusiastic and 

 indefatigable student of Indian life. The entire collection, which com- 

 prises about twelve hundred paintings and sketches, was offered by Mr. 

 Catlin to the Government in 184G, and its purchase was advocated by 

 Mr. Webster, Mr. Poinsett, General Cass, and other statesmen, as well 

 as by the principal artists and scholars of the country. A report 

 recommending its purchase was made by the Joint Committee on the 



