REPORT OF ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 55 



various catalogues at the eud of June, 1896, and June, 1897, are shown 

 in the appended table. 



1896. 



Mammals | 4Sf436 



IJmls ' 19440 



Iteptiles and amphibians 29396 



FisUes 26185 



Anatomical models 53520 



1897. 



49469 

 19480 

 29410 

 26194 

 53527 



DEPARTMENT OF PALEONTOLOGY. 



The scientific value of the collections received during the past year 

 in this department, of which the Acting Assistant Secretary is the 

 honorary curator, has exceeded that of the two preceding fiscal years. 



The collection of greatest value was made by Mr. Charles Schuchert, 

 assistant curator, in southern Alabama. As a result the National 

 Museum now has nearly complete skeletons of Zeuglodon und Dorudon, 

 besides much suplementary material. Mr. Schuchert also made a 

 small but interesting collection of Ordovician and Devonian fossils in 

 Tennessee. 



The U. S. Geological Survey transferred to the Museum seven lots of 

 invertebrate fossils, all of which are of considerable value. 



Mr. li. D. Lacoe, Pittston, Pennsylvania, added to the Lacoe Collec- 

 tion 208 specimens of Tertiary fossil- plants, many of them being types. 



Mr. Walter Hough, assistant curator in the department of ethnology, 

 presented his private collection of Carboniferous fossil plants and 

 invertebrates. 



Col. Charles Coote Grant, TTamilton, Ontario, donated two interesting 

 lots of Silurian graptolites from his locality. 



Mr. W. S. Gresley, Erie, Pennsylvania, presented a number of spec- 

 imens of Lake Siii)erior iron ores, containing probable fossil imprints. 

 If these are actually the imprints of animals, they are the oldest 

 known fossils. 



Dr. Charles E. Beecher, New Haven, Connecticut, presented a small 

 but valuable collection of Devonian phyllopod Crustacea, and two 

 models showing the ventral anatomy of trilobites. 



Dr. Wheelton Hind, Stoke-upon-Trent, England, sent an interesting 

 collection of Carboniferous mollusca in exchange. 



Prof. E. H. Barbour, of the University of Nebraska, deposited a 

 collection of the problematic fossils known as Diemonelix, which was 

 afterwards purchased. 



The University of Wyoming, through Prof. Wilbur C. Knight, sent 

 an interesting collection of ^lesozoic invertebrates from Wyoming, in 

 exchange. 



The type specimens of LepidoxyJon anomalum and Mcf/aphytum gold- 

 enber<jii were received in exchange from Dr. J. H. Britts, Clinton, 

 Missouri. 



