48 REPORT OF NATIONAL, MUSEUM, 1911. 



upon the idea expressed in the children's room in the Smithsonian 

 building, founded by the late Secretary Langley. 



The designing and building of cases has, in view of the number of 

 kinds and sizes required, demanded more time than was anticipated, 

 and at the close of the year only a relatively small proportion of the 

 furniture had been delivered, though the greater part of it was under 

 construction or included in contracts about to be awarded. Such of 

 the collections as had been brought from the older buildings, to- 

 gether with the specimens recently prepared, have been assembled in 

 the halls which they will occupy, but no part of the exhibition had 

 been sufficiently advanced for opening to the public. It is expected, 

 however, that some sections will be in readiness early in the present 

 year. The American mammals and osteological preparations have 

 continued on exhibition in the older Museum building, and the birds 

 and marine invertebrates, exclusive of the mollusks, in the Smith- 

 sonian building. 



DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY. 



Accessions. — The total number of specimens acquired by the de- 

 partment of geology was approximately 6,647, the number of sep- 

 arate lots or accessions received by each of the several divisions and 

 sections having been as follows : Systematic and applied geology, 45 ; 

 mineralogy, 27 ; invertebrate paleontology, 41 ; vertebrate paleon- 

 tology, 27; paleobotany, 6. Among the more important additions in 

 geology were several hundred specimens illustrating the silicifica- 

 tion of fossils and the formation of geodes, collected by Dr. R. S. 

 Bassler; six fine examples of billitonite, the gift of Dr. R. D. M. 

 Verbeck, The Hague, Holland ; and 42 polished slabs of marble and 

 granite for the exhibition series of ornamental stones, presented by 

 the Vermont Marble Company, the Alabama Marble Company, the 

 Georgia Marble Company, the Georgia Verd Antique Marble Com- 

 pany, the Colorado Yule Marble Company, the Henry A. Schweyer 

 Company, and the Norcross Brothers Company. There should also 

 be mentioned a series of specimens illustrating the geology and ore 

 deposits of the Bullfrog District, from the United States Geological 

 Survey ; monazite sand, pyrrhotite, graphite, and pegmatite from Mr. 

 E. Masillamani, of Trivanclruim, India ; two meteorites, and samples 

 of monazites and other radio-active minerals, which had been the 

 subject of investigation by the late Prof. George F. Barker, presented 

 by Mrs. Barker; and a collection of rocks from Hawaii, the gift of 

 Prof. C. H. Hitchcock. 



The additions in mineralogy comprised much noteworthy material. 

 Zeolites from New Jersey to the number of 98 specimens, the ma- 

 jority suitable for exhibition, and including a remarkable large mass 



