62 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Anas (Rhone), Villefraiu'he, France; Mr. E. Andre, Gray ( Haute- Saone), 

 France; Dr. Krantz, Bonn, (jierniany; Dr. E. Schellwien, Provinzial 

 Museum, Konigsl)erg, Prussia; Dr. Fred. Berwerth, Vienna, Austria; Mr. 

 Carl Wohlgemuth, Bozen, Tyrol, Austria; Prof. W. C. Brogger, Univer- 

 sity of Christiania, Christiania, Norway; Mr. G. van Roon, Rotterdam, 

 Holland; Mr. Paul Narl)el, Cour, Lausanne, Switzerland; Dr. I. Comabella, 

 Barcelona, Spain; Mr. W. R. Billings, Ottawa, Canada. 



JnstaUation. — The crowded condition of the two buildings occupied by 

 the National Museum prevents any extensive advances in connection with 

 either the exhibition or the working collection ,of specimens. Improve- 

 ments are constantly being made in methods of installation, in labeling, 

 and in the substitution of a better quality of specimens in the display cases 

 whenever such are received, but the growth of the Museum in directions 

 ajiparent to the public and the specialist has come practically to a stand- 

 still. There is room left only for storage. 



One of the galleries allotted to the Department of Anthropology for 

 exhibition purposes has of necessity been cut off from the public and 

 made into a temporary laboratory. Considerable progress has been made 

 in this dei^artment in the preparation of case labels. Some changes have 

 been made in the section of Biblical Antiquities. The collections in the 

 section of American history and certain exhibits in the division of Pre- 

 historic Archt«ology have been largely rearranged. 



The South East Range, assigned to the exhibition of reptiles, amphibians, 

 and fishes, has been entirely renovated, a terrazzo floor having been laid 

 and the walls and ceiling approj^riately painted. The installation, how- 

 ever, is not yet completed. Casts of fishes now occupy upright cases along 

 the west wall, while the reptiles and amphibians are shown in a series of 

 floor cases with sloping tops. Some South American and Old World species 

 in alcohol will shortly be added. A small series of dt^ep-sea fishes, supple- 

 mented by colored figures, has been placed on exhibition. The exhibit 

 of game birds in the entrance hall of the Smithsonian building is being 

 entirely reconstructed, so as to illustrate, in groups, the parent and young 

 birds in an environment characteristic of their haunts. At the close of 

 the year four such groujis had been finished. Owing to the imperfect 

 condition of the cases in which the large regular series of birds is installed, 

 it has been necessary to emploj' a taxidermist continuously in overhauling 

 the collection, in order to preserve the specimens from deterioration. These 

 cases, which have been in use for about twenty-five years, are now neither 

 dust nor insect proof. 



Perhaps the most important, or at least a most interesting work of instal- 

 lation completed during the year, is the Children's Room, mentioned on a 

 previous page. 



New labels have been prepared for the American mammals occupying 

 the large wall-case on the east side of *the South Hall, and a series of 

 enlarged models, representing the structure of feathers, has been added to 

 the collection in the Division of Comparative Anatomy. 



The display collections of the Department of Geology were never in a 

 more satisfactory condition than at present, and, except in the Sections of 

 Paleobotany and Vertebrate Paleontology, tliey are well arranged and 



