SECRETARY'S REPORT 33 



December 6 and 13 he visited research collections at Princeton Uni- 

 versity and the American Museum of Natural History to study Eocene 

 creodonts, primates, and rodents. In both institutions he found many 

 valuable specimens bearing upon his current studies, and paleontologi- 

 cal problems were discussed in detail with various staff members. 

 In mid-April Dr. Gazin began an extended tour of various European 

 countries to carry on both museum research and field work. Begin- 

 ning in France and Switzerland, he will continue this work in Ger- 

 many, Austria, Demnark, Belgium, and England, the primary purpose 

 of the project being to study early Tertiary mammalian collections 

 and to visit the more important classical localities for early fossil 

 mammals. It is part of a long-term research project on the early 

 Tertiary mammals of North America, which is partially supported by 

 a grant from the National Science Foundation. 



Late in May Dr. David H. Dunkle, associate curator of vertebrate 

 paleontology, spent a week first at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh 

 studying examples of Mesozoic fishes from Europe, especially amioids 

 and oligopleurids, and then at the Cleveland Museum of Natural 

 History consulting staff members on the reconstruction of dinosaur 

 skeletons in their new hall with a view to obtaining information of 

 use in the renovation of halls in our Museum of Natural Histoi'y. 



Dr. Nicholas Hotton III, associate curator of vertebrate paleontol- 

 ogy, spent the last week of October examining deposits of Dunkard 

 (Permo-Carboniferous) age in Belmont County, Ohio, for vertebrate 

 remains. The outcrops visited were those used by members of the U.S. 

 Geological Survey in stratigraphic studies of Monongahela and Dunk- 

 ard rocks of that county. He collected vertebrates from 15 localities 

 from which material had not been previously obtained. Dunkard 

 outcrops in western West Virginia and more northerly exposures of 

 the Dunkard in Ohio and Pennsylvania were also studied. Subse- 

 quently, Dr. Hotton spent some time at the Carnegie Museum, in 

 Pittsburgh, examining collections of Dunkard material, and attending 

 the annual meetings of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and 

 the Geological Society of America. In connection with the planned 

 renovation of the Dinosaur Hall in the Museum of Natural History, 

 Dr. Hotton spent about 10 days in November visiting comparable 

 presentations in the American Museum of Natural History, the Yale 

 Peabody Museum in New Haven, the Cleveland Museum of Natural 

 History, and the Cliicago Natural Histoiy Museum. The arrange- 

 ment of dinosaur skeletons and certain lighting effects achieved at tliese 

 institutions provided him with useful background information for 

 planning the Smithsonian's new exhibits. During the last week of 

 March Dr. Hotton worked at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at 

 Harvard University, examining and making sketches of specimens of 



