REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRET AKY. 101 



Mr. William Palmer spent a portiou of the months of February aiul 

 March iu making- collections in the Kissimmee Kiver region of Florida. 



A model of the Tower of Babel was prepared by Mr. Joseph Palmer 

 for exhibition at the Atlanta Exposition in connection with the exhibit 

 of the de[)artment of oriental antiquities undcrthe direction of Dr. Cyrus 

 Adler. He was also occupied in assisting in the preparation of lay 

 figures and of exhibits of reptiles and birds. 



Casts were made of a collection of 318 Assyrian seals, transmitted 

 by Dr. Frederick Stearns, of Detroit, Mich. A large number of casts 

 of cetaceans were cleaned and repaired, and the contents of the rooms 

 in the basement of the Smithsonian building in whu-h the molds are 

 stored, were thoroughly overhauled. All of the tanks and pickled 

 skins were removed from the shed near the Fish Conmiission building 

 to one of the sheds south of the Smithsonian building. The location 

 of the quarters rented for storage j^urposes and for workrooms was 

 changed uear the close of the year. 



Mr. J. M. Stowell, of the Leland Stanford Junior University, and 

 Mv. McElroy, of Washington, spent several weeks in the shops of the 

 taxidermists, studying the methods of work. 



Mr. Henry Marshall taxidermist of the department of birds, cleaned 

 and renovated about 4,000 specimens in the exhibition vseries during 

 the year. He also skinned 225 alcoholic birds and dismounted about 

 150 specimens. Forty-two fresh specimens were skinned and about 

 50 specimens were mounted for the exhibition series. 



OSTEOLOGIST. 



The osteological work has consisted mainly in the preparation of 

 material for the study series. Although a number of specimens have 

 been prejiared for exhibitiou, it has been impossible, owing to pressure 

 of other work, to mouut more than a small portion of them. The work of 

 preparing a restoration of a skeleton of Zeuglodon for the Cotton States 

 and International Exposition at Atlanta interfered greatly with the 

 regular work of the osteologist. Three mouths of the time of Mr. J. W. 

 Scollick were spent in developing portions of the skeleton on which the 

 restoration was based. 



Eight hundred and eighty-one skulls were cleaned for the depart- 

 ment of mammals, and a considerable amount of time was spent iu pre- 

 paring specimens for the use of Professor Cope in connection with the 

 preparation of a work on the reptilia of iSTorth America. 



