850, 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 102. 



with the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, 

 the latter Museum having a concession from 

 the government of that country. Mr, Ru- 

 dolph Weber returned early in the autumn 

 of 1895 from Sumatra, where he has been 

 collecting for the Museum with a fair degree 

 of success. Dr. Lumholtz has continued 

 his explorations among the Indian tribes of 

 the Sierra Madre Mountains, adding greatly 

 both to the collections and to our knowl- 

 edge of the primitive people in that region. 

 Another interesting collection is from the 

 cliff houses and burial caves of Utah, pre- 

 sented by the Messrs. Hyde, who have not 

 only given their collection to the Museum, 

 but have also arranged to continue their 

 explorations in the Southwest for several 

 years, under the general direction of the 

 Curator. The Peary Eelief party sent 

 out in cooperation with the American 

 Geographical Society, included a thorough 

 and skilled collector, and the numerous 

 specimens obtained through this source 

 were added to the Department of Mam- 

 mals and Birds. Mr. Joseph F. Lou- 

 bat has supplemented his previous dona- 

 tions with a gift of the widely-known 

 ' Charnay ' casts of sculptures from the 

 ruins of Tikal, Guatemala; Manche, Chi- 

 chen-Itza and Uxmal, Yucatan, and from 

 Palenque and other localities in Mexico. 



The Curators in the various departments 

 of the Museum have been occupied for 

 several months preparing for the opening. 

 Every department has received notable 

 additions. The two new halls which were 

 opened for the first time, those of Ethnology 

 and of Vertebrate Paleontology, deserve 

 epecial description. 



The Fossil Mammal Hall is upon the 

 third floor of the new east wing of the Mu- 

 seum, and has been arranged under the 

 direction of Prof. Henry F. Osborn, Curator, 

 assisted by Dr. J. L. Wortman and Dr. W. 

 D. Matthew. The department was estab- 

 lished by the Trustees in 1891, and a gener- 



ous annual appropriation from the Museum 

 endowment fund, supplemented by many 

 private gifts, has resulted in bringing to- 

 gether a remarkably complete collection. 

 The field parties under Dr. Wortman have 

 spent from six to eight months each year in 

 the West, exploring especially the Puerco, 

 Wasatch, Wind Eiver, Bridger, Washakie, 

 Uinta and White Eiver formations and the 

 Aphelops bed of the Loup Fork. Up to the 

 summit of the Oligocene, the collection is 

 unique, containing, with a few exceptions, 

 more or less complete remains of every 

 genus and species known. Negotiations 

 were early begun for the famous collection 

 of Prof. Cope. This was purchased and re- 

 moved to the Museum in 1894; it includes 

 550 types and a number of complete skele- 

 tons. Altogether the collection includes 

 twenty- five complete skeletons. Six of these 

 have already been mounted, under the 

 direction of the preparator, Mr. Adam Her- 

 mann. 



A zoological arrangement of the Hall was 

 early decided upon as the most practicable, 

 also as the most interesting and effective in 

 the education of the public. The entire 

 right, or south side of the Hall, is devoted 

 to the Perissodactyla, beginning with the 

 Titanotheres. The evolution of these ani- 

 mals is illustrated by finely mounted skele- 

 tons of Palceosyops and of Titanotherium, 

 and by a remarkable display of Eocene and 

 Oligocene types, illustrating the complete 

 development of the skull. Further on are 

 the Ehinoceroses, the three diverse types of 

 cursorial, semi-aquatic and land types being 

 represented by mounted skeletons of Hyra- 

 codon, Metamynodon and Aceratherium. The 

 horses complete this series at present. 



On the north side of the Hall are the 

 Mesozoic mammals, then the meseutherian 

 Amblypoda and Creodonta, the Tillodontia, 

 Eodentia, Insectivora and Carnivora. The 

 Proboscidia occupy the north center, fol- 

 lowed by the Artiodactyla, which are at 



