REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS IN THE U. S. NATIONAL 



MUSEUM, 1888. 



By Frederick W. True, Curator. 



lu my last report I stated that the chief features of the year's work 

 were the re-arraugement of almost the entire exhibition series in new 

 and specially adapted cases, and the replacement of a portion of the 

 defective material in the study series by the purchase of fresh speci- 

 mens. During the past year the work has progressed along the same 

 lines, but some special tasks were also undertaken, the foremost of 

 which was the preparation of a large series of specimens for exhibition 

 in the Ohio Valley Centennial Exposition in Cincinnati. 



The plan of representing the more important mammals of North 

 America by groups of specimens accompanied by accessories indicative 

 of the habits and natural surroundings of the species, which had been 

 for some time under consideration, was carried into execution by Mr. 

 Hornaday, chief taxidermist. Five groups have been placed in the ex- 

 hibition hall, one of which, a group of bisons, is one of the largest and 

 most carefully executed works of its kind to be found in any museum. 



More valuable material has been acquired by purchase and exchange 

 and less by donations than in previous years. Some interesting speci- 

 mens were received from two collectors sent out by the Smithsonian 

 Institution, but, with one or two exceptions, very little material has 

 been received from the various branches of the Government service. 



No descriptioas of new species of North American mammals have been 

 published during the year, though announcements of the discovery of 

 several have been made to some of the scientific societies. 



Among the important accessions of the year the foremost, perhaps, 

 was the series of skins of small mammals selected from several collec- 

 tions of small mammals made by Mr. F. A. Stephens in the San Fran- 

 cisco Mountains, Arizona, and the San Bernardino Mountains, Califor- 

 nia. These included specimens of SpermopJiilus tereticaudus, Dipodomys 

 deserti, Thomomys talpoides perpallidus, and other species of rodents not 

 previously well represented in the collection. Two specimens of an 

 undescribed race of Haplodon major from Point Reyes, Cal., were pur- 

 chased from Mr. C. K, Worthen. A fine skin of an unusually large 



139 



