REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 



105 



decrease is readily explained by the fact that tlie birds now being- 

 cleaned are larger and reqnire a greater amount of care and labor. 

 Four birds were mounted, and several poorly mounted specimens were 

 reduced to skins. Twenty-seven birds, received in the flesh, including 

 two young ostriches, were skinned for the study series. 



OSTEOLOGIST. 



There were cleaned for the department of mammals during the year 

 607 skulls, and for the Department of Agriculture 539 skulls (many of 

 them being of the larger mammals), making a total of 1,146. Thirty- 

 two other speciruens were also cleaned, 29 of them having been received 

 in the flesh. Eighteen specimens were mounted, exclusive of the work 

 done for the exhibit at the Cotton States and International Exposi- 

 tion at Atlanta. Eeference was made last year to the preparation of a 

 skeleton of Zeuglodon for this exhibit. This work was completed, and 

 several other skeletons were prepared for the same purpose. 



The synoptic series of invertebrates and the series of wax models 

 showing the development, from the embryo, of the trout, frog, chicken, 

 etc., were packed up and sent to Atlanta. This work required excep- 

 tional care, owing to the nature of the specimens. Considerable time 

 was necessarily spent in repacking the material for return to Wash- 

 ington at the close of the Exi)osition, and in installing it in the Museum. 



A summary of the osteological work is given in the following table: 



The workshops of the osteologist were transferred during the year 

 to the new quarters on Ninth street, S.W., which have been leased by 

 the Museum for storage and other purposes. 



PHOTOGRAPHER. 



The photographer, Mr. T. W. Smillie, reports that 1,638 negatives 

 have been made during the year. Many of these were for the depart- 

 ments of ethnology, mammals, geology, anthropology, oriental antiqui- 

 ties and religious ceremonials, botany, and technology. In addition, 



