REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 25 



terial, placed on exhibition. A beautiful series of trilobites has been 

 placed temporarily in the exhibition cases, awaiting permanent transfer 

 from the IT. S. Geological Survey to the Museum. The Mesozoic fossils 

 have been classified and arranged for exhibition. Three groups of mam- 

 mals have been installed during the year, and a considerable number of 

 single specimens added to the exhibition series. Although the number of 

 specimens added to the collection of birds is considerably less than in the 

 previous year, the appearance of the exhibition series has been greatly 

 improved by the substitution of new cases for the old ones, and by the 

 rearrangement and relabeling of the collection. A large collection of 

 illustrations of North American insects, prepared for the Paris Exposi- 

 tion, has been placed on exhibition. Lay figures representing a Pap- 

 uan, a Dyak and a Samoan, in native dress, have been placed in the 

 ethnological hall. 



Technical and historical series of specimens have been placed on ex- 

 hibition in the section of graphic arts. The details of this arrangement 

 have been set forth in a circular intended for the guidance of visitors, 

 and printed in the report of the curator. A commencement has beeu 

 made of an exhibit of forestry objects. A large number of labels have 

 been added to the exhibition series of fishes, and the groups have 

 been brought more closely together. The material in the collection of 

 tertiary fossils has been segregated according to its biologic relations, 

 and its incorporation with the general collections. The collection of 

 minerals has been rearranged, and a new installation of the gem series 

 is under way. The collection of North American lizards has been in- 

 stalled in new quarters. Much time has been devoted by Dr. James 

 M. Flint to the arrangement of specimens of materia medica already 

 on hand. The Aino material collected by Mr. Romyn Hitchcock has 

 been fully labeled and installed. The economic collection of insects, 

 which was somewhat damaged during the return shipment from the 

 Paris Exposition, has beeu overhauled and put in place again. The 

 Hemiptera Heteroptera have been rearranged according to Uhler's 

 check-list. The ores and general economic material in the exhibition 

 hall have been arranged into two principal series ; the one, comprising 

 a systematic exhibit of all the principal ores of the metals arranged ; 

 the other, arranged geographically by States. Mr. Lucas has devoted 

 a portion of his time to the identification and arrangement of skeletons 

 of birds and tortoises. The classification of the star-fishes, collected by 

 the IT. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross in the North Pacific Ocean, 

 has been continued. 



