46 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
ance with a chemical classification, and selected and lighted to make 
a colorful display of their natural beauty. A fine large specimen of 
smithsonite, a carbonate of zinc, named for its discoverer James 
Smithson, whose bequest founded the Smithsonian Institution, is ex- 
hibited in this hall. The spectacular display of fluorescent minerals 
on a revolving stand has attracted considerable visitor interest. 
The room designed solely for the display of the Maude Monell 
Vetlesen collection of Chinese jade carvings of the 16th to 19th cen- 
turies was opened to the public on the evening of December 11, 1958, 
in ceremonies featuring addresses by the Vice President of the United 
States and Regent of the Smithsonian Institution Richard M, Nixon, 
Edmund C. Monell, the Honorable Wiley T. Buchanan, Jr., Chief 
of Protocol of the United States, and Dr, Leonard Carmichael, See- 
retary of the Smithsonian Institution. These pieces of exquisitely 
carved jade include an apple-green chrysanthemum dish of nearly 
1114 inches in diameter, a massive white imperial altar incense burner 
and cover of classic design, a pair of deep spinach-green altar boxes in 
the shape of the divine tortoise, and two imperial scepters, made of 
gold filigree and each inset with three large carved jade plaques. 
The basic contract construction of the Hall of Fossil Fishes and 
Primitive Tetrapods, as well as the Hall of Fossil Invertebrates and 
Plants, was completed in May 1959. Shortly thereafter the exhibits 
staif placed in their respective cases the giant fish Yiphactinus and 
the slab displaying the skeleton of the Triassic amphibian Fupelor 
fraasi, Materials for other display units have been prepared for in- 
stallation. In addition to the materials prepared by the museum's 
exhibit staff, two habitat groups, depicting Cretaceous and Ordo- 
vician life associations, were completed and two additional groups 
were being prepared with the help of George Marchand of Ann Arbor, 
Mich. 
Preparators in the paleontology laboratory commenced the assem- 
bly of mammalian skeletons for the Age of Mammals Hall. Skeletons 
of the Eocene horse Orohippus, the Oligocene AMesohippus, and the 
Miocene Parahippus are in various stages of completion. 
The unveiling of the Fénykévi elephant on the evening of March 6, 
1959, was witnessed by a large number of invited guests following a 
lecture in the auditorium of the Natural History Building by the donor. 
This record specimen of African bush elephant, standing 18 feet 2 
inches at the shoulder, is the largest land mammal ever to be placed on 
display. Josef J. Fénykovi, Hungarian-born engineer and big-game 
hunter who tracked down and shot this elephant in the largely unex- 
plored Cuando River region of southeastern Angola on November 13, 
1955, and who presented the specimen to the Smithsonian Institution, 
came to Washington with his wife from Madrid to participate in the 
