REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1911. 33 



specimens from Abyssinia, one of which has been made the type of a 

 new species, Mellioora abyssinica, recently described by Mr. N. 

 Hollister. 



The exceptional number of specimens received in the rough state 

 during the past two years has severely taxed the resources of the 

 division in providing for their final preparation. Of the large and 

 medium sized skins over 300 were tanned, in order to preserve them 

 in a soft and pliable condition; more than 3,000 skulls of all sizes 

 were cleaned, and good progress was made in cleaning the large 

 skeletons from the African expedition. 



The entire collection of mammal skins is now, for the first time 

 since it outgrew its quarters in the older Museum building 25 years 

 ago, completely and satisfactorily installed, being systematically 

 arranged in the capacious laboratory of the division, which occupies 

 the entire ground floor of the northwest range in the new building. 

 The collection of skulls has also been thoroughly revised and rear- 

 ranged, and with the exception of the ungulates and pinnipeds was 

 systematically placed in standard cases, but a proper disposition of 

 the skeletons and alcoholic specimens awaits the completion of the 

 necessary accommodations for their storage. The work of supplying 

 uniform typewritten labels for all the skins and skulls was actively 

 taken up about the middle of the year. 



Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, jr., curator, and Mr. N. Hollister, assistant 

 curator, of the division, prepared several short papers descriptive of 

 Museum material which are noted in the bibliography. Mr. Hollis- 

 ter also completed his monograph of the genus Fiber, on which he 

 has been engaged for some time., and Mr. Edmund Heller continued 

 his investigations on the mammals collected by the Smithsonian 

 African Expedition. Dr. M. W. Lyon, jr., of Howard University, 

 finished his report on the mammals from Borneo, collected and pre- 

 sented by Dr. W. L. Abbott, and has made good progress on a mono- 

 graph of the tree-shrews, a peculiar group of Malayan mammals 

 especially well represented in the contributions from Doctor Abbott. 

 Members of the staff of the Biological Survey of the Department of 

 Agriculture and Dr. C. Hart Merriam have, as usual, made constant 

 use of the collections, and visits were paid to the Museum for the 

 purpose of examining specimens by Mr. Roy C. Andrews, of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, Dr. Glover M. Allen, of the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology^ and Mr. W. H. Osgood, of the 

 Field Museum of Natural History. Thirteen lots of specimens were 

 lent for study to institutions and specialists both in this country 

 and abroad. 



Birds. — The final accession of birds from the Smithsonian African 

 Expedition comprised 1,379 dried skins and 213 alcoholic specimens, 

 skeletons, and eggs, and supplied many desiderata, of which the 

 24292°— 12 3 



