DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 389 



whales, previously on exhibition. After the consideration it was 

 thought best to bang the skeleton of the Humpback Whale, which is 

 somewhat lighter than the others, from large iron brackets at the east 

 side of the hall. A suitable design was made by Mr. Lucas, assistant 



curator, and the brackets were made by tin- People's Iron Works, 

 Philadelphia. The skeleton was hung without difficulty, and the plan 

 proved entirely satisfactory. It is improbable that we shall be able to 

 suspend any more large skeletons from the roof of this hall, and in the 

 future must resort to other methods of installation. Skeletons of the 

 Great Bowhead and the Sperm Whale, which are still among our desid- 

 erata, would be much heavier than any of the skeletous now in position. 

 Each of the series represented in the exhibition collection has received 

 more or less important additions during the year. The number of 

 specimens in each series at the end of the year was as follows : 



Mammals— No. of specimens. 



Skeletons 19v> 



skulls ::•.! 



Birds- 

 Skeletons 41 



Reptiles and Batrachians — 



Skeletons 37 



Fishes — 



Skeletons 23 



Invertebrates H8 



Auatomical models and preparations 4 



Series illustrating the growth and re placement of teeth 59 



S.rii's representing the morphology of limbs 37 



Series illustrating t li«' structure of horns 16 



Casts of skulls showing brain capacity ' 14 



Miscellaneous 43 



Total number ef specimens mi exhibition 606 



As already stated, the preparators were engaged chiefly in cleaning 

 and preparing for the exhibition and study series a portion of the 

 material that had accumulated in the workshops and storagerooms. 

 One preparator was engaged almost exclusively in cleaning the skulls 

 of small species of mammals deposited by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. About five hundred of these skulls were cleaned during the year. 



A considerable part of the time of the chief preparator was occupied 

 by the arrangement of the collection of vertebrate fossils, and in mount- 

 ing a cast of the skeleton of Vinoceros, winch work, though very neces- 

 sary, was not connected with this Department. Mr. Lucas was also 

 detailed to pack the collection of mammals exhibited in the Cincinnati 

 Exposition. 



