170 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



been of great value to the department. The catalogue numbers em- 

 bracing this collection extend from 1201 to 1582, as recorded in the 

 National Museum register of vertebrate fossils. The greater part of 

 this collection was obtained by Mr. J. B. Hatcher, and a careful record 

 of all the localities has been preserved. 



Another important collection of 72 large boxes of vertebrate fossils, 

 sent from New Haven in 1880 by the honorary curator, still remains in 

 storage, as there is no room for its exhibition in the National Museum 

 The Smithsonian numbers of these boxes are 6001 to 6072. 



The honorary curator of this department has recommended to the 

 director of the Museum that other wall-cases for vertebrate fossils be 

 constructed on the three remaining sides of the exhibition room, as this 

 space will be needed eventually, if the specimens already secured and 

 now under investigation are all placed on exhibition. One side conld 

 then appropriately be devoted to the extinct reptiles of the Triassic 

 and Jurassic, another to those from the Cretaceous, while the third 

 and fourth would be required for the vertebrate fossils of the Tertiary 

 alone. 



During the past year the honorary curator of this department has 

 published a number of papers relating, in part, to the collections above 

 described, but these publications belong more appropriately to his 

 work in connection with the IT. S. Geological Survey. In two memoirs 

 now in preparation, however, he will give full descriptions of the more 

 important specimens he has recently deposited in the National Museum. 



The collection of vertebrate fossils, which has been catalogued partly 

 with the osteological specimens and partly in a separate book, has 

 been recatalogued during the year in a volume specially devoted to 

 vertebrate fossils. 



During the year 1,124 catalogue entries were made, and 1,001 speci- 

 mens were added to the collection. 



