46 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



In the Division of Minerals the most important accession has been 

 the private collection of Prof. Charles U. Shepard, comprising- some 

 5,000 specimens, man}^ of which are ver}' choice and rare, as noted 

 below. The meteorite collection has increased more than during any 

 similar period in its history since the receipt of the Shepard collection 

 of meteorites in July, 1886. This great increase is due in part to the 

 purchase of the Allegan stone (some 64 pounds) which fell at Allegan, 

 Michigan, on July 10, 1899. In addition to this the following speci- 

 mens have been obtained: 



Aerolites. — Jerome. Gove County, Kansas; Schonenberg, Bavaria; 

 Bishopville, Sumter County, South Carolina; Indarka, Russia; Lissa, 

 Bohemia. 



Aerosiderlte,"^. — Augustinowka, Russia, and Bischtulje, Russia. 



The gem collection has been increased by three tine opals, and three 

 cut Japanese beryls. 



The principal accession of the year in the Section of Vertebrate 

 Fossils has been the Marsh collection, which was formalh" transferred to 

 the Museum in December, 1899. This 1 will refer to in detail later. In 

 addition to this, the section has received: Through exchange with the 

 Glen Island Museum a tine specimen of fossil gar, Lepidosteus iihiij)l<\v; 

 a verj" perfect skull and a large part of the ])ody of the fossil gar, 

 Lepid.osteus atrox., the gift of Mr. Charles Schuchert; types of new 

 Jurassic fishes, described by Dr. C. R. Eastman n and transferred to 

 the Museum by the Geological Surve}"; a numl^er of specimens of a 

 new Leuciscus., also received from the Geological Survey; a tine skull 

 and cranium of an Elotlierutia and a DiceratJierium, purchased from 

 Mr. Frank Stillwell. 



The most important collections received in the Section of Inverte- 

 brate Paleontology are: The Cragin collection (1,322 specimens) of 

 Texas Jurassic fossils; the John M. Clarke collection (617 specimens) 

 of New York Lower Helderberg fossils; the Townsend collection (864 

 specimens) of Guelph (Upper Silurian) fossils; a collection of some 

 1,002 Mesozoic fossils, collected in W^^omingby Mr. Schuchert; a series 

 of specimens showing the twenty stages through which the Cambrian 

 trilobite Sao />ir,'<i/fa passes during its development, received in exchange 

 from Dr. Anton Fritsch, of the Bohemian Museiun; a series of corals 

 illustrating Mr. Vaughan's forthcoming work on American corals; a 

 life-size model of the crustacean Sfi/Iou urns as restored by Dr. C. E. 

 Beecher: a specimen of the rare echinoid 0/I(/o/t</j>o/-((s nohdis., the 

 gift of ]Mr. W. L. Woods; and from the (jeological Survey a series of 

 labeled Cambrian brachiopods (366 specimens) and Rock}" Mountain, 

 Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian fossils (740 specimens). 



Additions of value in the Section of Paleobotany have come almost 

 wholly through the United States Geological Survey, and comprise: 

 A series of plants associated with the lavas of the Cascade Range, 

 as described and figured by Dr. F. H. Knowlton in the Twentieth 

 Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey; plants from 



