NORTH AMERICAN RUMINANTS 
where their numbers are being rapidly diminished by Indians and 
Eskimos and by Arctic explorers. 
There are two species of Musk-Oxen, the Barren Ground and 
the Greenland, both of which are well represented in the Museum 
collection. Six specimens of the Greenland species, secured for 
the Museum by Lieut. R. E. Peary, have been mounted and 
installed as a group in Hall No. 207 of the East Wing. The 
Barren Ground species, also, is well represented by mounted 
specimens, including the young as well as the adult. 
From the foregoing it is evident that the Museum is very de- 
ficient in the large game animals of North America, many of the 
forms being entirely absent and others very inade- 
quately represented. It is the wish of the Museum au- 
thorities to exhibit each prominent species by a group, 
planned on a large scale, with proper accessories to illustrate 
the life habits of the animal; in other words, on the same scale as the 
present Moose and Bison groups in the North American Hall. The 
careful construction of these groups implies not only a consider- 
able expenditure of money in procuring specimens of the animals 
for mounting, but also in furnishing the accessories and making 
the studies for its setting. The designer of a group should visit 
the country inhabited by the animals it is intended to illustrate, 
plan the group in the field, and collect samples of rock, soil and 
vegetation for use in the construction of the exhibit. In no other 
way can the results be realistic and satisfactory,— exact repre- 
sentations of nature, which it is the purpose of these groups to 
reproduce. Since not every specimen is suitable for mounting, 
a considerable series must be collected or purchased in order to 
select therefrom material that will be satisfactory. 
Exhibits 
Needed. 
Note.—The attention of the reader is called to the fact that in 
the halls of Ethnology, Nos. 101, 102, 108, on the ground floor of the 
building, will be found many articles of dress made from the skins of 
the Deer and other members of the family of Ruminants, also many 
implements of the chase and of home industries made from the bones 
and antlers of the Deer, Elk etc. The teeth of some of the Rumi- 
27 
