FOSSIL VERTEBRATES 
funds), the present value of the collections would be between four and 
five hundred thousand dollars, and the expenditures of the Trustees 
thereupon would amount to about $300,000. 
SUMMARY 
The total number of catalogued specimens is over 18,000, of which 
14,000 are mammals. These specimens, it is estimated, represent 
about 2,000 distinct species. They include an exceptionally large 
number of type specimens and casts of types. There are 403 original 
type specimens of valid species of fossil mammals from the North 
American Tertiary formations; the total number of type specimens 
(originals and casts) of fossil vertebrata is estimated at over one 
thousand. 
The collections include forty-nine complete mounted skeletons of Summary of 
extinct mammals, twenty-four of extinct reptiles and amphibians, and 
one extinct bird. There are in addition many complete or nearly 
complete skeletons which have not yet been mounted for exhibition, 
many hundreds of skulls of extinct vertebrates, and thousands of 
jaws, feet, or other portions of skeletons, only a small part of which 
(some two thousand specimens) are placed on exhibition. 
SCIENTIFIC STAFF 
The scientific staff of the department at its organization consisted 
of Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, Curator, Dr. Jacob L. Wortman, 
Assistant Curator, and Mr. Charles Earle, Assistant. Professor 
Osborn has contributed his services to the Museum for fifteen years 
without salary. Mr. Earle remained with the department until 1894. 
In 1895 the Cope Collection of Fossil Mammals was presented by 
a number of the Trustees, and Dr. W. D. Matthew was engaged in w^^n ^ 
connection with its cataloguing and arrangement. In 1899 Dr. iggs- 
Wortman resigned his position with the American Museum to take 
charge of vertebrate palaeontology in the Carnegie Museum, and Dr. 
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