The American Museum Journal 



Vol. II. JANUARY, 1902 No. i. 



|HE present number of the Journal, commencing 

 Volume II, inaugurates certain changes in typog- 

 raphy and page which it is hoped will prove ac- 

 ceptable to our readers and to those who make 

 use of the supplements. The plan which was 

 adopted with the number for October last of issuing a supplemen- 

 tary guide leaflet to an exhibit or group of exhibits in the Museum 

 has met with so much favor that it will be continued for the 

 present. The supplement issued with the current number is a 

 general description of the material on exhibition in and of the 

 arrangement of the hall of Vertebrate Palaeontology. It is pro- 

 posed to prepare several similar illustrated leaflets describing at 

 some length and in a popular manner difi'erent portions of the 

 exhibit in this hall which may be considered as units. The 

 authorities of the Museum are issuing the Journal as a means 

 of bringing the institution into close touch with the public and 

 the schools, and it is to be hoped that the friends of the Museum 

 will assist in making the circulation of the publication as large 

 as possible. The Journal proper will continue to give to the 

 public items of news regarding the work of the various depart- 

 ments, notable new accessions, programs of lectures and popular 

 short articles on specimens in the Museum. The price of sub- 

 scription to those not members of the institution has been 

 placed at the low price of one dollar per year, which barely covers 

 the actual cost of paper, illustrations, printing and postage. 



The Department of Geology has just completed a large under- 

 taking, namely, the publication of a tabulated catalogue of all 

 the type and figured specimens contained in its extensive collec- 

 tion of fossils. The term "type", as employed in this Depart- 

 ment of the Museum, embraces not only the specimens actually 



