Report of the President 23 



display of fishes and reptiles has been small and the speci- 

 mens shown, with few exceptions, of indifferent quality. As 

 a result of work of preparation for more than a year past, 

 fishes and reptiles are now fairly well represented, and the 

 examples shown are of great excellence, the Bullfrog Group 

 in particular rivaling the well-known habitat bird groups in 

 beauty and educational value. This work is being prosecuted 

 through the annual contributions of Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge. 



MURAL WORK 



In various exhibition halls, especially in those of Anthro- 

 pology, the need of mural painting has been felt, to supple- 

 ment the case exhibition and sculptural models. Only an 

 artist can represent the spirit and sentiment of the life of the 

 various existing and extinct tribes of men, subjects that 

 require extremely careful study and exceptional caution, lest 

 the Museum acquire mural decorations which in time will 

 prove to be artistically poor, and hence a detriment to the 

 exhibition halls. What is regarded by artists as a very suc- 

 cessful series of paintings is that in the North Pacific Hall 

 representing the economic life of the Indians of British Colum- 

 bia and Alaska. These paintings were executed by Mr. Will 

 S. Taylor, under the scientific direction of Dr. Clark Wissler 

 and Mr. Harlan I. Smith. The paintings of Mr. F. W. Stokes 

 in the same hall are partly mythological and partly economic, 

 representing the life of the Eskimo. Mr. Taylor is now pre- 

 paring a new series to represent the ceremonial and religious 

 life of the North Pacific tribes; in the preparation of his pre- 

 liminary sketches he was fortunate in having the advice of 

 Lieutenant George T. Emmons, whom he accompanied on a 

 trip to the northwest coast. 



At the same time, Mr. Louis Akin has received a commis- 

 sion for preliminary studies in the hall devoted to the Indians 

 of the Southwest, including the exceptionally picturesque life 

 and customs of the Mokis, Zunis, Navajos and other agricul- 

 tural peoples. 



For the Plains Indians Hall and for the Eastern Wood- 

 lands Hall, it is proposed to engage the services of Mr. E. W. 

 Deming to prepare preliminary designs. 



