REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 51 



Th(» view here given (Plate 8) of the gallery in the west south range 

 shows better than words the facilities for storage afforded bj'^ the new 

 galleries. The Section of Paleobotany has here some 1,900 drawers, 

 giving 10,000 square feet, and the Division of Geology 180 drawers, 

 giving some 800 square feet of storage space. The table cases around 

 the outer edges of the gallery serve as convenient tables for laying out 

 material for study, while giving at the same time additional storage 

 space beneath. 



ThepaJeobotanical scries is now fairly well systematized and its value 

 is becoming recognized, as is shown })y the following quotation from a 

 recent number of the American Geologist: 



The United States National Museum lias already become the great depository of 

 the coal-plant material in this country, and, with its great number of American types, 

 will doubtless remain a center of systematic work in this field. 



For the first time in the history of the Museum all the halls devoted 

 to exhibition purposes in geology are open to the public. Much, of 

 course, remains to be done, but the confused and unsightly condition 

 of affairs which has existed for nearl}^ three 3^ears has subsided. It 

 shoidd be stated, however, that the work on the exhibition series of 

 the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology has been scarcely begun, and it 

 will require years of labor to bring this up to the standard of those 

 Avhicli have been longer in existence. 



Tons of material from the Marsh collection are stored in a rented 

 building used as a work and store room of the department, where they 

 must remain until they can be unpacked, sorted, and cleaned, a task 

 which, with the present force, will occupy several years at best. 



KESEARCH. 



For several j^ears past so large a proportion of the energies of the 

 curators has been consumed in the work of installation, that very little 

 in the way of investigation could be carried on, and almost no work of 

 a systematic and far-reaching nature. 



The head curator has devoted considerable time to the meteorite 

 collection, and has published a preliminary paper on the stone which 

 fell at Allegan, Michigan, in July, 1899. He has also devoted some 

 time to the study of the collection of volcanic rocks made by Prof. 

 C. H. Hitchcock in the island of Oahu. 



Mr. Tassin has devoted some attention to the subject of hydrolosis 

 of the metallic sulphates, especiall}' those of iron, with particular refer- 

 ence to the origin of the red colors in sedimentarj^ deposits. His work 

 is as yet incomplete. He is also engaged in preparing a handbook on 

 the collection of gems and meteorites. 



Mr. Lucas has studied the dentition and general structure of Zeug- 

 lodon, and has prepared a paper on the pelvic girdle of the same. He 

 has also described a new fossil from the Miocene of California, and 



