REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 83 



This collection, which has been briefly referred to in previous reports, 

 i.s the result of nearly fifty years of work on the part of Mr. Harris, 

 and is generally accepted as being the finest collection of its kind extant. 

 It is particularly rich in Crinoids, of which, in the form of slabs and 

 free specimens, there arc not less than 1,3(»0 specimens. It is also 

 extremely rich in Silurian starfishes and Trilobites, containing some 

 600 out of the 750 known species of this crustacean so far described 

 from the Cincinnati formation. The Museum, as well as the country 

 at large, is to be congratulated on the fact that so valuable a collection 

 has become permanently housed where it will l)c accessible to all work- 

 ers. Much credit is due Mr. Schuchert for the efficient manner in 

 which he has handled this and, indeed, all the collections that come 

 under his care. 



It may be well to remark in this connection that the skeleton of 

 IlesperornU regalis^ obtained a year ago for the Pan-American Expo- 

 sition, has been returned in safety and now constitutes one of the most 

 interesting exhil)its in the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology. 



The collections in the mineral hall are not yet fully restored from 

 the confused condition into which they were thrown in January by 

 the erection of galleries, as already noted. 



KESEARCH A\l> PUBLICATION. 



Work of research in the Division of Geology has been greatly cur- 

 tailed through the resignation in September of Dr. Peter Fireman, 

 chemist of the Department, as before noted. What investigations 

 have been carried on have been limited mainly to meteorites. As will 

 be seen by reference to the bil)liograph3", two papers relating to the 

 Felix and Admire meteorites have been prepared and published dur- 

 ing the last year \)\ the Head Curator, the chemical work having l)een 

 done in part by Dr. Fireman and in part by Mr. Tassin, the Assistant 

 Curator in the Division of Mineralogy. This investigation has yicdded 

 what is believed to be important contributions to our knowdedge of 

 these interesting bodies, the Felix stone having been shown to ))e a 

 tufi' containing minerals of undoubted secondary origin, and that of 

 Admire showing the iron under such conditions as to suggest its origin 

 through reduction of a chloride or sulphide. 



Mr. Tassin has himself studied and prepared for puldication a paper 

 on the large mass of meteoric iron from Casas (Irandcs, Mexico, and 

 has continued his studies on the dehj^dration of the ferric h3Tlrates. 

 He hopes to be a])le to publish the result of this latter work during 

 the next calendar 3^ ear. 



Mr. Schuchert has continued his study of the Silurian and Lower 

 Devonian of the Appalachian region, and has in preparation mono- 

 graphs of these fossils from the Maryland region, to l)e puldished in 

 the main by the Maryland Geological Survey. He has also continued 



