DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS. 141 



from the roof. By this change a considerable floor-space was made 

 available for other purposes. 



By far the most important additions to the exhibition series were the 

 groups already alluded to. Five of these works, representing the bison, 

 prairie wolf or coyote, opossum, prong-horn antelope, and prairie-dog, 

 have been placed in the hall. The bison group occupies a case about 

 17 feet long, 12^ feet wide, and 9 feet high. All the groups were de- 

 signed by Mr. W. T. Hornaday and were executed by himself, assisted 

 by Messrs. J. Palm-^r, A. H. Forney, and William Palmer. Great pains 

 were taken to make the groups true to nature, and in the case of the 

 bison, coyote, and antelope, the turf, bushes, and other accessories were 

 brought from Montana with the specimens themselves. The work has 

 been very carefully done, special attention having been given to matters 

 of detail. Several new groups are in preparation. 



In addition to these five groups, which together include twenty-seven 

 specimens, the taxidermists have mounted about thirty other mammals. 

 A few of these were still without stands at the end of the year or could 

 not be completely finished for lack of materials, and the remainder 

 were sent to the Cincinnati Exposition. The usual list will therefore 

 be held over for next year's report, when the work done for the Cincin- 

 nati Exposition will be reported upon in full. 



In addition to the regular routine work connected with the identifica- 

 tion and cataloguing of new specimens, correspondence, the preparation 

 of labels, etc., several special tasks were undertaken. The entire col- 

 lection of skulls was furnished with uniform labels, and the skins of the 

 monkeys and carnivores also received fresh labels, rei^lacing the old 

 ones, many of which were becoming illegible. It should be remarked 

 here that the original labels received with the specimens are never 

 removed unless, as sometimes happens, they are of absurdly large 

 size. 



The skins which had accumulated in the taxidermists' tanks, amount- 

 ing to over three hundred, were divided into two lots, preparatory to 

 being taken in hand by the taxidermists, some being assigned to the ex- 

 hibition series and others to the study series. A considerable number 

 of large skins belonging to the latter series were received from the 

 taxidermists during the year, and were temporarily stored in the lower 

 j)art of some of the exhibition cases. 



The alcoholic collection has been temporarily placed on shelves in 

 the south entrance of the Museum. The jars have been repeatedly ex- 

 amined, and the collection is in a fair state of preservation. 



The boxes containing the skins of ruminants and other large mam- 

 mals are stored in the south entrance and are practically inaccessible 

 for want of space. 



A new card-catalogue of the exhibition series has been formed by 

 pasteing copies of the printed labels on standard cards. The other card- 



