HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 
Cambrian, estimated at 40,000,000 years ago. He passes into the 
gallery surrouhding the Rotunda and is introduced to the AGE OF 
FISHES by a collection of living fishes, which, in turn, will lead him 
into the East Transept devoted to later Palaeozoic times, or close of the 
Age of Fishes. Here the Museum is rich in the Newberry Collection, 
deposited by Columbia University, and, through the Dodge Fund, 
is in a position to acquire and arrange most instructive exhibits of the 
life of this great period of time. 
The East Entrance Hall may be partly devoted to exhibits of the 
larger fishes of modern times and to the Carboniferous and Permian 
periods, when the AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES first make their 
appearance on the earth. This is the Age of the Coal Formations, and 
mural decorations, illustrating the Carboniferous or Coal Period and 
its rich flora, will be appropriate. Following this is the Permian in 
which we have unsurpassed collections. The next hall in the Southeast 
Wing leads us into Jurassic times and may be known as the FIRST 
HALL OF DINOSAURS, for which imposing materials have already 
been assembled, namely, the great Brontosaurus and other giant reptiles 
of this period. Splendid specimens of these animals, as yet unmounted, 
from the Museum's expeditions and from the Cope Collection pre- 
sented by Mr. Jesup, await the space which a new hall will afford. In 
the south end of the same hall one may pass into that long period of 
time known as the Middle Cretaceous, when the Rocky Mountain 
region was beneath a series of shallow seas which swarmed with 
MARINE REPTILES, over which hovered various types of flying 
reptiles and primitive birds. Again, the collections now in the Museum, 
those unprepared and those being brought together by our western 
expeditions, are ready to fill a considerable space. The visitor now 
passes into the Southwest PaviUon, which will be known as the 
SECOND HALL OF DINOSAURS, and which will portray the second 
and final great period of dinosaur life in North America. Here we are 
now ready to make a most imposing display of Iguanodons, giant carniv- 
orous reptiles, or Tyrannosaurus, great horned dinosaurs, and the small 
forms of lifelrom^this remarkable period. The flora of this period is 
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