4 Director's A)inual Report. 



piercing the body of the vertebrae and holding the spine in rigid 

 curvature. It is believed that there is no better or more instruc- 

 tive specimen in the United States. Illustrations both of the skele- 

 ton and of its covering are herewith given. Figs, i, 2 and 3. It is 

 hoped that soon a similar specimen of the Right Whale niaj' be 

 placed on the opposite side of the Hall. 



Also b}- purchase a skeleton of a smaller whale, 17.6 feet long, 

 ■from New Zealand {Mesoplodon gray/) has been obtained and well 

 ■cleaned and mounted by Mr. Bryan of the Museum staff. It is well 

 sliowni in the accompanying illustrations. Figs. 4-8, and as it is not 

 :a common specimen, the skull has been photographed as well as the 

 ■ear bones. It presents features in common with the description of 

 another species of Mesoplodon and in the absence of material for 

 comparison the determination of its specific place is not certain. 



As far as possible in the absence of cases the work of preparing 

 the bird groups has gone on, and a fair illustration of one of the 

 larger groups is given in Fig. 9, where Mr. Bryan has, as it were, 

 taken a sedtion of the rocky breeding place of the Tropic bird. 

 Eggs, young and adults are all skilfully shown, and our thanks 

 are due to Mr. F. M. Swanzy for permission to secure the needed 

 ■specimens from the islet Mokolii. For the smaller birds a differ- 

 ent but not less effecflive treatment is .show^n in Fig. 10. This is 

 certainly much more attracftive and truer to Nature than the old 

 method of mounting stiff! 3' on stands. Twenty-seven such groups 

 are planned for the Hawaiian avifauna. 



The grass house mentioned in my last report has been com- 

 pleted and furnishes a very satisfactory illustration of an ancient 

 gra.ss house of the simpler sort. It will be fully described and 

 illustrated in the account of Hawaiian house building which it is 

 proposed to publish in the Museum Memoirs. It may be said here, 

 however, that it is large enough to live in, and not a mere model, 

 and it has been construdted in the ancient way, except that the 

 human sacrifice was not deemed necessar}', from the frame of an 

 .old house in a valley on Kauai, and this was given by the Knudsen 



