1961-1962 - American Museum of Natural History

Approximately 9000 complete teeth, along with jaws and other
skeletal elements, of primitive mammals were taken from a
quarry of early Eocene age. This collection, the largest sampling
of such Eocene fossils ever collected from a single quarry,
will prove invaluable in a statistical analysis of variation. In
addition, the discovery of a new mammalian fauna in the Mesaverde
formation of Cretaceous age was an unexpected and
welcome result of the work during the past year's field season.
Dr. McKenna is continuing to explore the discovery site and its
environs in the 1962 field season.
Exhibition activities during the year were concerned mainly
with the new hall that is to be devoted to the reptiles that survived
beyond the extinction of the dinosaurs, and to primitive
mammals. The hall is still several years from completion. In
addition, Dr. McKenna served as one of the scientific advisers
on the temporary exhibition "Dating the Past with Atoms."
Important acquisitions of the year, in addition to those collected
by the expeditions mentioned above, included the outstanding
Patten Collection of Paleozoic fishes, a gift from Dartmouth
College.
The department continued its regular educational functions,
both at the Museum and in the graduate paleontology program
of Columbia University. In addition, Dr. Colbert served as a
member of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study Group
of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, which is engaged
in the preparation of new texts in biology for high schools.
The program is designed to bring new concepts, new methods,
and new viewpoints into the teaching of high school biology
in the United States. Dr. Schaeffer is serving on the Panel for
Systematic Biology of the National Science Foundation.
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