60 REPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



THE WORK OF THE MUSEUM PREPAKATORS. 



The preparation of specimens for exhibition in the Museum, or for the 

 study series, has been satisfactorily continued. The work of modeling- 

 has been placed under the charge of Mr. W. T. Hornaday, chief taxi- 

 dermist. 



(a) Taxidermists akd Modelers. 



The work of this department has been unusually important. Early 

 in the year the making of large casts was discontinued, and Mr. Joseph 

 Palmer, modeler, was added to the force of mammal taxidermists. A 

 little later Mr. William Palmer was also assigned to this department, 

 and has accomplished some excellent results in the preparation of small 

 mammals. Mr. Joseph Palmer has rendered valuable service in the 

 mounting of large mammals. In-order to complete the systematic ad- 

 ministration of this class of work Mr. J. W. Hendley was also added to 

 this force, which thus becomes the Department of Taxidermy and Model- 

 ing, under the direction of Mr. W. T. Hornaday, chief taxidermist. This 

 force also includes Mr. A. H. Forney and Mr. George F. Pollock, an un- 

 salaried assistant serving for instruction in taxidermy. During the last 

 month of the year, Messrs. George K. Cherrie and B. W. Mitchell were 

 engaged temporarily to assist in the preparation of the exhibit for the 

 Cincinnati Exposition. 



TAXIDERMY PROPER. 



The event of the year has been the mounting of a series of six of the 

 buffaloes obtained by the Smithsonian Expedition sent out in 1886, and 

 the arrangement of the specimens in a group. The finished group is 

 fitly regardly as a monument to the American bison, and illustrates not 

 only the various stages of growth of the animal from the young calf to 

 a huge old bull of enormous proportions, but the ground-work and nat- 

 ural accessories of the group have also been carefully and artistically 

 worked up to illustrate the habitat of the animal. The whole is re- 

 garded as a triumph of the taxidermist's art, and, so far as known, it 

 surpasses in scientific accuracy, and artistic design and treatment, any- 

 thing of the kind yet produced. The group is the work of Mr. Horna- 

 day, assisted by Mr. Joseph Palmer and Mr. A. H. Forney. The case 

 containing the group is also regarded as a model of its kind, both in 

 elegance of design, and perfect adaptability to its purpose. Its dimen- 

 sions are as follows : Length 16 feet, width 12 feet, height 10 feet. 



The preparation of the group of buffaloes fairly inaugurates a line of 

 work which has been in contemplation for some time, namely, the pre- 

 paration of a series of artistic groups of American mammals, both large 

 and small, each in its own special case, with natural accessories repre- 

 senting its favorite habitat. The taxidermists have also mounted dur- 

 ing the year a group of prong-horn antelopes, of coyotes, prairie-dogs, 

 opossums, gray squirrels and red squirrels, and have also made a be- 

 ginning on a group of moose and two groups of foxes. The groups of 



