40 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1960 



tion was presented to the public. The history and development of 

 these geologically old back-boned animals are traced through mil- 

 lions of years. Transition from life in the water to life on land and 

 the development of jaws are illustrated by diagrams and models. A 

 14-foot skeleton of the predatory Cretaceous fish Xiphactinus, which 

 had swallowed another sizable fish, the dermal-armored giant 

 Devonian joint-necked fish Dinichthys, a series of fishes which had 

 inhabited the seas covering Germany during the Jurassic period, and 

 a rock slab with the crowded skulls and bones of the amphibian 

 Buettneria which had been trapped in an evaporating Triassic swamp 

 within the boundaries of the present state of New Mexico are displayed 

 in this hall. This exhibit hall was supervised by Dr. David H. Dunkle, 

 associate curator of vertebrate palentology, and the exhibits design 

 was coordinated by Gorman Bond. 



The most colorful habitat groups for the hall of invertebrate 

 paleontology and paleobotany were completed by George Marchand 

 of Ann Arbor, Mich. A giant cephalopod shell, Parapuzosia, which 

 was received in many pieces, was restored for a display unit. Scripts 

 for the paleobotanical displays in this hall were prepared by Dr. 

 Erling Dorf of Princeton University. Dr. Gustav A. Cooper, head 

 curator of geology, was responsible for the preparation of the scripts 

 for the remainder of this hall. 



Construction of the display units in the hall for the fossil mammals 

 illustrating the "Age of Mammals" was completed and installation 

 commenced. The large fossil mammal skeletons were in place by the 

 end of the year. This hall was designed by Ann Karras in accordance 

 with the script furnished by Dr. C. Lewis Gazin, curator of vertebrate 

 paleontology. Included among the mammals added to the previous 

 exhibit series are skeletons of two horses, Orohippus and Parahippus, 

 the Oligocene camel Poehrotherium, a composite restoration of the 

 Eocene primate Smilodecfes, and a large primitive rodent, 

 Ischyrotomos. 



Preparation of specimens for the dinosaur display in the large east 

 main hall was begun near the end of the year. Among these were 

 the skeleton of the Triassic reptile Trilophosaunis, remounting the 

 skeleton of the Permian sail lizard Dimetrodon and restoring the 

 elongated tail, and restoration of a phytosaur skull from the Triassic 

 rocks of west Texas. Tentative layouts for modernization of the dino- 

 saur hall were developed by Dr. Nicholas Hotton III, associate cura- 

 tor, and exhibits designer Aim Karras. 



Preparation of exhibits for the first of two modernized halls of 

 North American archeology was initiated and 17 cases were installed. 

 Among these were topical exhibits on aboriginal North American uses 



