606 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



Ungulata, Edentata, Marsupialia and Monotremata are now entirely arranged 

 in the new cases in perfect systematic order, so tliat any particular specimen, 

 or all of the specimens of a given group, can be found at a moment's notice. 

 It is now possible to ascertain, in a short time, just what specimens the 

 museum possesses in any genus of these groups, and what material would be 

 desirable to build up and fill out the collection at its weak points. 



How much this means can only be appreciated by those familiar 

 with the conditions under which the collection had been kept for 

 years in the old National Museum building where some 70,000 speci- 

 mens had been crowded into space scarcely sufficient for one- fourth 

 that number. The work so well begun was continued until all groups 

 were covered and for the first time in the memory of anyone now 

 living the mammal collection of the National Museum was or- 

 ganized and sj^stematized as a mammal collection should be. The 

 great series of skeletons and the very numerous skulls of large size 

 unaccompanied by skins also were overhauled as well as the bulky 

 and very valuable cetacean material so well represented in the col- 

 lection. Nothing was slighted, but even Hollister could not stay on 

 such a task continuously, for there w^as so much of interest to be 

 done in other ways. So, with Mr. Miller's encouragement, he seized 

 all opportunities to enter into the study of exotic mammals, a sub- 

 ject which was new and very attractive to him. In this way, in a few 

 years, he familiarized himself, so far as they were represented in the 

 Museum, with the mammal faunas of tropical America, the Philip- 

 pine Islands, Celebes, China, Siberia, and eastern Africa. He pub- 

 lished numerous papers covering a wide range of subjects and soon 

 became recognized as one from whom sound, carefully considered 

 contributions were to be expected. 



He continued in this way for nearly seven years, only interrupted 

 by two important field trips in 1911 and 1912. The first of these was 

 to Jasper Park and the Mount Robson region of the Canadian 

 Rockies, where he was in charge of the Museum party including 

 J. H. Riley, C. D. Walcott, jr., and H. H. Blagdon, acting in co- 

 operation with the Alpine Club of Canada which afterwards pub- 

 lished his detailed report. The second trip also was cooperative, 

 being made in conjunction with Dr. Theodore Lyman, of Boston, 

 and the Museum of Comparative Zoology. The objective was the 

 Altai Mountains of Siberia, entailing a journey to St. Petersburg 

 and thence across Russia and Siberia. Although the entire trip 

 lasted only four months and bad weather conditions were en- 

 countered, an important collection of mammals was made, includ- 

 ing 13 new species and subspecies as well as man}'^ others theretofore 

 unrepresented in any American museum. 



Hollister's life, while directly connected with the National Mu- 

 seum, was one that appeared to satisfy him completely. So fasci- 



