326 Field Museum OF Natural History — Reports, Vol. V. 



were then stacked to form units of 15 inches in height, the uppermost 

 tray being turned bottom up so as to form a cover. The whole was then 

 formed into a bale. This proved not only the quickest and most 

 effective means of packing, but had the advantage of keeping the 

 specimens in the same trays which are to serve as storage for them in the 

 new building. The large casts, such as those of Megatherium and Had- 

 rosaurus were taken down and crated in sections. The head and legs 

 were removed, and the thorax reenforced by longitudinal rods lashed 

 across the ribs and secured at either end. All were then crated in \xmts 

 of such size as to permit easy transportation. Smaller skeletons, 

 such as those of the Irish Deer, Glyptodon and Uintatheriimi were 

 crated on their bases, with the heads removed when too large to be 

 readily enclosed. Smaller skeletons of a fragile nature were, with their 

 bases, placed in light crates, and were secured by a series of cordage stays 

 running to the sides of the crates. Thus sectired, the specimens were 

 returned to the exhibition cases and fastened in position either by means 

 of wires running to iron straps in the back of the case or by blocks 

 screwed to the bottom of the case. Specimens packed in exhibition 

 cases in this way are believed to be assured a safer handling than those 

 placed in improtected crates. Smaller specimens, such as skulls, were 

 generally packed in paper cartons and secured in the exhibition cases 

 either by blocks or by long, wooden braces fastened to iron studs screwed 

 into the perforated and threaded strips designed to support the shelf- 

 brackets. In some instances, however, the cartons were packed in large, 

 wooden boxes. Very large skulls, such as those of Titanotheritim and 

 Eobasileus, were packed in special wooden crates and the whole retiuned 

 to the exhibition cases to be moved in them. The Miocene camel 

 skeleton was packed by disarticulating the legs, removing the head and 

 pelvis, and supporting the torso on short, upright rods attached to a 

 temporary base. The whole was then fastened firmly in an exhibition 

 case. A nimiber of heavy and fragile objects, such as specimens of 

 Daemonelix and dinosaur bones, reqiiired re-enforcing. This was accom- 

 plished by the use of plaster and burlap, plaster and iron rods or a 

 combination of all these. Since the spirals of Daemonelix made up of 

 loosely-cemented sand, would little more than bear their own weight 

 when in an upright position, they were, before removal from the ex- 

 hibition case, reenforced with plaster and strips of burlap. To guard 

 against possible breakage and crumbling, four quarter-inch rods were 

 laid across the spirals parallel to their main axes. The peripheries of 

 the spirals were then wotmd with plaster bandages which, crossing the 

 rods at every turn, bound the whole firmly together. The mounts of 

 dinosaur limbs were taken down and each large bone crated separately. 



