REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914, 97 
as Apodemus praetor, and an important gap in the palearctic series 
was filled by the purchase of a specimen of the Chinese so-called 
“horse-tail” deer, laphurus davidianus, which will soon be mounted 
for exhibition. A notable gift from Dr. Enrico Festa consisted of a 
deer, Cervus corsicanus, and a wild boar, Sus meridionalis, from the 
island of Sardinia. The African collection was increased by a num- 
ber of specimens obtained by Dr. V. Schiick in northern Zululand, 
and by Mr. H. J. A. Turner in British East Africa, among the latter 
being types of several new forms. Mr. C. T. Summerson presented 
specimens from Alaska, including two skulls of Dall’s sheep, and 
Mr. F. D. Ward donated a complete specimen of the dugong pre- 
served in formalin. 
The tanning of large and medium-sized skins was nearly com- 
pleted and the taxidermist detailed to the division made up 325 
skins for the reserve series, consisting mainly of small carnivores 
and monkeys from the Borneo collection of Mr. Raven. Unusual 
progress was made in the preparation of osteological material, some 
920 large skulls, 93 more or less complete skeletons, and many hun- 
dreds of miscellaneous bones, chiefly leg bones, having been cleaned 
at the Museum, and 3,200 small skulls and 80 skeletons, by contract. 
The mammals from the Smithsonian African Expedition were re- 
arranged and most of those from South Africa were identified, the 
labeling of both being completed. Much work was done toward in- 
stalling the skulls and skeletons of large mammals in 100 quarter-unit 
cases specially provided for the purpcese in the west attic. With the 
exception of the cetaceans, the American deer, and the family Bovidea, 
the entire collection of large mammal skeletons is now supplied with 
proper case room. The whale skulls and skeletons are still tempo- 
rarily quartered in the north gallery and northeast basement of the 
old Museum building, while a few skulls too large to be accommo- 
dated there have been placed provisionally with the osteological 
exhibit in the new building. 
Research work in this division was largely restricted to the descrip- 
tion of new forms discovered incidentally during the identification of 
collections recently received or in the course of revising and redeter- 
mining old material, as indicated by the titles of the papers cited in 
the bibliography at the end of this report. In addition, the curator of 
the division, Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, jr., prepared a new edition of the 
Directions for Preparing Specimens of Mammals, and the assistant 
curator, Mr. N. Hollister, completed a monograph of the grasshopper 
mice, Onychomys. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, associate in zoology, con- 
tinued his studies of North American bears, the monograph on this 
subject, which has long engaged his attention, being now well ad- 
vanced toward completion. Dr. E. A. Mearns, United States Army, 
71159°—natT Mus 1914——~7 
