52 Report of the President 



estimate of the value of the more important exhibition speci- 

 mens shows a total of over twice the whole cost of the three 

 expeditions, in addition to collections of great scientific value 

 but difficult to estimate commercially. 



Cuban Collections. — The collections of Cuban fossil 

 vertebrates, made under the generous direction of Carlos de 

 la Torre of the University of Havana, and of Associate 

 Curator Brown, are now being prepared for study and exhibi- 

 tion. Dr. de la Torre has also deposited on loan his earlier 

 collections from Cuban localities, as also those of Senor 

 Moreno. These collections constitute practically all that is 

 known of the extinct vertebrate life of the island, and repre- 

 sent one of the most important discoveries of recent years. 

 They will be described and illustrated in the Memoirs of this 

 Museum, by Dr. de la Torre and the Curator. 



Exhibition Methods. — The work of reinstalling the 

 exhibits on the panel system has been continued, the Uinta- 

 there case being completed, the Titanothere alcove practically 

 completed and some progress made on other groups. A fine 

 group has been completed illustrating the conditions which 

 caused the burial of the wonderful deposit of Pleistocene 

 fossils in the asphalt beds of La Brea near Los Angeles. The 

 specimens for this group, complete skeletons of the Sabre- 

 tooth Tiger and Extinct Wolf, and skulls with a fore limb of 

 a great Ground Sloth, were secured through exchange with the 

 University of California. A cast of the skeleton of the Giant 

 Lemur Megaladapis of Madagascar, also secured through 

 exchange, has been mounted and placed on exhibition. A 

 skeleton of the Four-toed Horse Eohippus and another partial 

 skeleton of the same, both from the Lower Eocene of the Big 

 Horn valley, Wyoming, have been prepared and mounted for 

 the Evolution of the Horse Alcove. A number of dinosaur 

 specimens secured by Mr. Brown in Alberta have been pre- 

 pared and temporarily exhibited in the case opposite the 

 elevator, and the preparation of a complete skeleton of a new 

 Duck-billed Dinosaur Saurolophus, is nearly completed. A 

 splendid skull of the " Giant Pig" Dinohyus has been mounted 



