REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY 19 



DEVELOPMENT AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE EXHIBITION SERIES. 



The g'lowtli of the exhibition series iu the various departiuciits of the 

 Museum has been greatly retarded on account of the crowded condition 

 of the Museum buikliug. 



En the Section of Graphic Arts tlie hd^ding- of specimens on exhibi- 

 tion has been continued and tlie catak)guiiig of tlie Osborne collection 

 completed. In the Sectii »n of Transportation and Engineering an attem])t 

 has been made to secure a series of objects illustrating the birth and 

 development of the mechanical arts, with special reference to the evo- 

 lution of the epoch-making inventions. The labeling and cataloguing 

 of specimens in the exhibition series has been completed. The study 

 and exhibition series have been increased by a collection of engravings, 

 prints, photographs, and drawings of locomotives, cars, bridges, and 

 other railroad apparatus and appliances. In order to provide room for 

 the disi)lay of valuable objects acquiied during the year, it was found 

 necessary to rearrange the entire exhibition series, and many objects 

 were installed on the tops of cases, or on brackets, with a view to 

 greater economy of space. Considerable progress was ma<le in the 

 Department of Ethnology in connection with the installation of the 

 series of bows, arrows, and shields. An exhibiti(ui series of time- 

 keeping api)aratus has been commenced, and a card catalogue of the 

 ethnological series was begun. A series of type portraits of num- 

 kiud, 33 in number, was x>i'epai't'<l by Mr. A. Zeno Shindler. A series 

 of fire-making implements was arranged by Mr. Walter Hough. Prepa 

 rations were commenced at the close of the fiscal year for an ethnologi- 

 cal exhibit at the World's Fair. In the Dei)artnient of Prehistoric 

 Anthropology the collections have been rearranged according to local- 

 ity, necessitating a change in the location of the cases and a rearrange- 

 ment of the material in the trays. Six months were recpiired for the 

 completion of this work. The preparations for an exhibition of mam- 

 mals at the World's Fair have somewhat retarded progress in the in- 

 stallation and arrangement of the exhibition series. In the l)ei>artment 

 of Birds five exhibition cases were tilled with specimens, properly ar- 

 ranged and labeled, and ai large portion of the study collection of 

 American Passeres and P/wrm' was entirely rearranged. The installa 

 tion of the collection of reptiles and batrachians in Jars was ccmtinued 

 during the year, and the reserve series of North American batrachians 

 was arranged in systematic order. The space assigned to the Depart- 

 ment of Vertebrate Fossils is greatly overcrowded, thus preventing a 

 complete arrangement of the study and exhibition series, a large 

 amount of unclassified material being in storage. The Department of 

 Mollusks has shown considerable activity in the development of its 

 exhibition series <luring the year. The Lea collections have been 

 ]>laced in permanent shape. The Naiades have been placed on exhibi- 

 tion in new cases. The reserve collection in the Department of Insects 



