86 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1920. 



211 large mammal skulls, and one set of leg bones were cleaned. Mr. 

 C. E. Mirguet, preparator, attended to most of the work involved in 

 the hanging of the game heads in the main stairway. He also had 

 the immediate supervision of the cleaning of the large exhibition 

 groups and similar work. The mounting of a large monitor lizard 

 for the exhibition series as well as a large amount of preparatorial 

 work for the study series of reptiles, particularly turtles, fell to 

 his share. Mr. C. R. W. Aschemeier, after his return from Africa 

 with the Collins-Garner expedition, has been assisting Mr. Brown 

 and Mr. Marshall and has made up 132 mammal skins and 5 bird 

 skins. It should be noted that the time of the taxidermists, prepara- 

 tors, and cleaners early in the year was taken up with the work of 

 adjusting and fitting up their new quarters after the removal of 

 the shops from the old stable and the shed south of the Smithsonian 

 building. Mr. William Palmer was chiefly occupied with the rear- 

 rangement of the District of Columbia exhibit and the preparatorial 

 work incidental thereto, including the mounting of several mammals 

 and birds, and casts of amphibians. He also attended to the re- 

 arrangement of the general bird exhibit. He also spent considerable 

 time in securing and verifying data for new labels for a considerable 

 part of the mammal collections, a task requiring much research in the 

 older records. He was sent to Jacksonville, Florida, twice to report 

 upon and later to attend to the packing and shipping of a whale 

 skeleton purchased and presented to the Museum by the Miami 

 Aquarium Association through its president, Mr. James A. Allison. 

 As it had not been received in Washington until after the expiration 

 of the fiscal year, this notable addition will be dealt with in next 

 year's report. 



The present condition of the collections, in spite of considerable 

 crowding in certain lines must, on the whole, be characterized as very 

 good. Allusion has already been made to the fact that a consider- 

 able part of the^exhibition series is stored away and inaccessible to 

 the public. This condition is not conducive to its best conservation, 

 as the crowded location of the cases makes a close and frequent in- 

 spection difficult. They have been attended to, disinfected, and re- 

 paired as occasion demanded. The reports from the divisions also 

 indicate satisfactory conditions. It should be borne in mind that 

 this favorable result is to a great extent due to the fact that it has 

 been possible during the last few years to keep up with the work 

 and to properly care for the collections partly on account of the 

 lessened influx of specimens during the war, partly because it has 

 been possible in those years to employ temporary assistance. The 

 greater activity which now has set in is threatening to set us back as 

 we were before, unless additional assistance can be had. This is par- 

 ticularly true of the two large divisions, the marine invertebrates 



