REPORT OF ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 47 



nearly every curator and those of his assistants were fully occui)ie(l in 

 the work of preparation for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. The 

 details of this work have been the subject of a special report, and need 

 not be repeated here. 



Mr. Lucas reports that in the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology 

 a large amount of preparatory work has been done incidental to 

 strengthening, restoring, and ])reparing for exhibition the skeleton of 

 Zeuglodon. Two skulls of Oreodon, and one of MesoMppus from the 

 Evans collection have been cleaned, a fine skull of Claosaurus and the 

 upper ])ortioii of a nuignificent Triceratops nearly pre])ared for exhibi- 

 tion, and smaller skulls and parts of skeletons whollj^ or partially pre- 

 pared for exhibition or study. Work of this nature is extremely slow 

 and laborious, and additional preparators are sadly needed. When it 

 is remembered that, excepting when aided by Mr. Schuchert and others 

 in the Section of Invertebrate Paleontology, the entire work of this 

 division has thus far been carried on by Mr. Lucas, with the assistance 

 of one clerk and one prepara.tor, it will be recognized at once that 

 surprising progress has been made. 



The prolonged absence of Mr. Schuchert, incidental to the purchase 

 of materials for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, and a subsetjueut 

 trip into Missouri, together with his Greenland trip earlier in the 

 season, has necessarily greatly retarded his work. Satisfactory prog- 

 ress has been made in installing the study series and in the prepa- 

 ration of exhibition material, though this, too, is delayed, owing to the 

 condition of cases and exhibition halls. Practically nothing has been 

 accomplished with the paleobotanical series. It is expected that the 

 appointment of an assistant in charge of this collection, and the com- 

 pletion of the galleries and cases, will enable me to report more satis 

 factory ])rogress another year. Up to this time all Museum work done 

 on these collections has been voluntary by members of the paleobotanical 

 staff of the Geological Survey, or by Mr. Schuchert and his assistants, 

 whose time was already more than occupied by the work of their own 

 division. 



In the Division of Mineralogy Ihave to report satisfactory progress 

 in the installation of the exhibition series. The Systematic Series, the 

 collection of meteorites, and several special series are now, for the first 

 time, satisfactorily installed, and Mr. Tassin, who has had immediate 

 charge of the work, is entitled to much credit, not merely for his energy 

 and industry, but as well for the taste he has manifested in the selection 

 and display of the material. 



Much work yet remains to be done in the way of supplying deficien- 

 cies and labeling, but it is not too much to say that the collections as 

 a whole are in excellent condition. 



In the Division of Physical and Chemical Geology (systematic and 

 applied) of which the head curator has immediate charge, no progress 

 whatever has been made with the exhibition series until within a 



