SECRETARY'S REPORT 55 



of the units have been prepared. Several casts of fishes were repaired, 

 and one cast of a record-size 12-foot white sturgeon was produced by 

 John Widener for the case on ancient fishes. This cast was prepared 

 from a specimen obtained through the cooperation of Dr. Murray A. 

 Newman, curator of the Vancouver Public Aquarium. 



All curators in the department of zoology participated in the plan- 

 ning and development of a temporary exhibit entitled "Zoology in 

 the Smithsonian Institution'' for viewing during the XVI Interna- 

 tional Congress of Zoology, meeting in Washington during August 

 1963. 



A detailed statement of the purpose and scale for each unit in the 

 future hall of plant life was prepared as a basis for more precise 

 planning of the exhibits in this large gallery. Specifications for 

 models in the rainforest life group were prepared and some of the 

 models made. Early in 1963 a field party spent 5 weeks in the desert 

 of Baja California, Mexico, collecting data and materials for the 

 construction of a desert life group. Dr. R. S. Cowan, assistant di- 

 rector for the Museum of Natural History, led the party and served 

 as technical adviser and photographer; Paul Marchand and Vernon R. 

 Rickman worked together to prepare models, molds, sketches, and 

 other exhibit items. The work of the field party was greatly facili- 

 tated by the use of the Vermilion Sea Field Station maintained on 

 the east coast of the peninsula by the San Diego Natural History 

 Museum. 



The large modernized hall of dinosaurs and other fossil reptiles was 

 opened to the public in June. The dominance of the dinosaurs in the 

 terrestrial fauna of the Age of Reptiles is illustrated by displays rep- 

 resenting all major groups of dinosaurs. Examples range in size 

 from one which had an arm bone 6 feet long to a tiny beast with a 

 thigh bone smaller than that of a chicken. Many of the specimens 

 were collected during the early U.S. Geological Survey explorations 

 associated with the opening of the West between 1870 and 1895. Also 

 displayed in this hall are reptiles from which mammals evolved. 

 These animals apparently were never abundant in the United States, 

 and the exhibited fossils were collected recently in South Africa. 

 The displays of fossil reptiles are related to exhibits of fossil inverte- 

 brates, fishes, and mammals in adjoining halls, so that the visitor can 

 follow the history of life from its earliest traces almost to the present. 

 Dr. Nicholas Hotton III, associate curator of vertebrate paleontology, 

 planned the exhibits for the hall with the assistance of exhibits de- 

 signers Ann Karras and Barbara Craig. Preparation has begun on 

 four dioramas for exhibit on the balcony in the hall of dinosaurs. 

 Using the scale of 1 inch to 1 foot. Jay N. Matternes and Norman 

 Deaton will prepare these dioramas to depict land vertebrates of the 



