REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I912 43 



VII 

 REPORT OF THE ZOOLOGIST 



The time of the Zoologist and Taxidermist has been occupied 

 chiefly in cleaning, repairing and packing the zoological collec- 

 tions for removal, especially those that were on exhibition in 

 Geological Hall. As it was desired to keep the Museum open to 

 the public as long as practicable, but few of these exhibits had 

 been disturbed during the previous fiscal year, although the du- 

 plicate and study collections, with the exception of many of the 

 shells, had been mostly packed. The shell collection was the 

 most diflicult to handle on account of the great number of speci- 

 mens both on exhibition and in storage. As most of the shells 

 were in uncovered paper trays, with loose labels laid upon them, 

 it was important to pack them so that all chance of confusion 

 would be avoided. This work occupied much of the time of the 

 Zoologist and Taxidermist during the entire winter and part of 

 the spring. 



The bird and animal groups could not be packed, and it was 

 decided to leave them as they were and have them carefully 

 transported without packing. The single mounted birds and 

 animals were, when not of too great size, packed in boxes by se- 

 curing the stands to the bottom or sides of the box. When it 

 seemed necessary, the specimen was given additional support to 

 prevent shaking. Those too large to be dealt with in this way 

 were wrapped in several thicknesse's of tissue paper which was 

 carefully tied on. In many cases, the specimens w^ere cleaned 

 and repaired previous to packing, but this was not always pos- 

 sible, on account of the large amount of material to be handled. 

 This work had been largely completed by the end of the fiscal 

 year. 



The services of Mr C. E. Mirguet, formerly of Ward's Natural 

 Science i^stablishment, and now in the employ of the United 

 States National Museum at Washington, were obtained for tak- 

 ing apart and cleaning the skeletons of mammals and other verte- 

 brates. The smaller ones were prepared for transportation with- 

 out entirely disarticulating them, the skull, or the skull and 

 limbs, being removed and packed so as to diminish the danger of 

 breakage. The skeleton of the finback whale, which was hung 



