REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 37 



The birds exhibited at St. Louis, mostly taken from the regular 

 Museum series, were returned to their proper places, and the collec- 

 tion of game birds, which now includes 10 groups, was reinstalled. 

 Many specimens of valuable species which had been mounted long ago 

 were also made over with very satisfactory results. 



In the range devoted to reptiles and iishes a few interesting addi- 

 tions were made from the Museum exhibit prepared for St. Louis. 

 They consist of casts of snakes, among the larger forms repre- 

 sented being the python, rattlesnake, and boa, in special cases, and 

 a fine set of models of deep-sea fishes. 



The American faunal exhibit of insects was nearly completed 

 during the year, but the series of Lepidoptera shown at St. Louis 

 and intended to be placed in the insect hall has been withheld from 

 exhibition pending experiments looking to some provision for 

 protecting their colors. The synoptic series of marine invertebrates, 

 enlarged and improved for use at St. Louis, has been returned to its 

 place in the west hall of the Smithsonian building. 



In the biological exhibit as a whole many new and revised labels, 

 both for the specimens and the cases, were prepared and installed. 



In the hall devoted to systematic and applied geology a number of 

 large pieces of interesting rocks and ores, obtained at the St. Louis 

 Exposition, were added to the exhibition collection. The wall cases 

 in the mineral hall were repainted and their contents, including the 

 specimens of meteorites, were rearranged. The larger meteorites 

 were also supplied with new descriptive labels. Lack of space pre- 

 vents any material increase in the exhibit of invertebrate fossils, but 

 the hall of vertebrate paleontology has received a most noteworthy 

 addition in a complete skeleton of Triceratops prorsus, one of the 

 large Dinosaurian reptiles of the Cretaceous period of the Western 

 States. This is the first preparation of this form yet made, and con- 

 sists chiefly of the actual bones of the most complete specimen in the 

 collection, supplemented by pieces from other specimens and by 

 restorations in plaster. The skeleton measures 19 feet 8 inches in 

 extreme length by 8 feet 2 inches high, and is mounted on a base of 

 artificial matrix designed to represent the color and texture of the 

 Laramie sandstone in which the remains of this animal are found. 

 This unique and striking object is certain to attract very widespread 

 attention. 



RESEARCHES. 



The systematic classification and arrangement of the collections 

 which are so rapidly increasing from year to year demand a very 

 large amount of scientific study and research, which the caretakers 

 are expected to be qualified to carry on. The present staff is wholly 

 inadequate in numbers to accomplish all that is required in this 



