36 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



island, while the seining for fishes along the shore yielded 57 species. 

 At New Orleans a short time was spent in attaching descriptive labels 

 to casts of fishes in the Exposition. 



Department of Comparative Anatomy. — This department is under the 

 care of Mr. F. W. True, curator of mammals. Early in the year a number 

 of exhibition cases were set \\]i in the east south raug-e, and in the latter 

 part of February a provisional arrangement of the exhibition series of 

 vertebrate skeletons was effected. A month later the entire collection of 

 bird skeletons was brought from the Smithsonian building and stored in 

 the range. An arrangement was made with the authorities of the Army 

 Medical Museum for the exchange of a collection of human skulls for 

 skeletons and skulls of North American vertebrates, and in April the 

 first in stallment, consisting of about 500 skulls and 350 skelejtons of 

 North American vertebrates, was transferred to the United States Na- 

 tional Museum. An agreement was also entered into between the Army 

 Medical Museum and the National Museum to undertake post-mortem 

 examination of animals in the flesh received by the Institution, and of 

 which the donors desired to know the cause of death. A series of casts 

 of bones of Dinoceras, presented by Prof. O. C. Marsh, was also placed 

 on exhibition. The osteological preparator and his assistant were con- 

 stantly engaged in cleaning skeletons and mounting them for exhibi- 

 tion. One of the most interesting of the recently exhibited skeletons is 

 that of Rhytina gigas, obtained in Bering Island by Dr. L. Stejneger for 

 the Institution. Some progress has been made in the preparation of a 

 series of specimens illustrative of the modifications of the limbs and 

 other portions of the skeletons in the different classes of vertebrates. 

 Experiments in special cases for the exhibition of this and other simi- 

 lar series have proved very successful. But little work has been done 

 in connection with the reserve series except for the purpose of deter- 

 mining whether the specimens were in good order. 



Department of Molhisks. — This department has been making extra- 

 ordinary progress under the charge of Mr. William H. Dall, assisted by 

 Dr. R. E. C. Stearns. Mr. Dall reports that the department under his 

 charge has been making steady advance in its administration upon the 

 mass of accumulations of the last ten years, and, except in regard to the 

 New Orleans exhibit, has little more to offer than a record of such un- 

 eventful work which is indispensable for making the collections useful 

 for the paleontologist or the conchologist who may desire to consult it. 

 The most interesting accession was a small lot of Japanese shells con- 

 tributed by Mr. Uchimura, which contains several great rarities. The 

 preparation of material for the New Orleans Exposition, which absorbed 

 several months' time prior to the beginning of the year, was completed 

 under the direction of Dr. Stearns, so that the boxes containing the 

 specimens and the cases required for their display reached their desti- 

 nation and were ready for arrangement early in January. About the 

 middle of the month Dr. Stearns proceeded to New Orleans and re- 



