April, 1919] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



II 



game exhibits. The Redpath Museum contains a 

 variety of collections, dating back over many years, 

 and is a storehouse of valuable study material for 

 McGill University. The Museum of the Natural 

 History Society of New Brunswick, at St. John, 

 emphasizes the direct instruction side of museum 

 work, and, although possessed of limited resources, 

 with the co-operation of the railways, places timely 

 exhibits before the people by means of museum cars. 



The Royal Ontario Museum at Toronto has, 

 within the last six or seven years, assumed the lead- 

 ing position in Canada on account of its exhibits. It 

 contains a number of very interesting features, among 

 which are its collections of oriental arms and armor, 

 its antique furniture and musical instruments and its 

 well arranged collections of minerals and inverte- 

 brate fossils. 



Our national institution, the Geological Survey 

 Museum housed in the Victoria Memorial Museum 

 at Ottawa, contains the exhibits long housed on 

 Sussex street, including all the collections made by 

 the Geological Survey since its founding by Sir 

 William Logan in 1842. The collections of indian 

 clothing, weapons, works of art, and utensils are 

 very complete and fine, and could not be replaced. 

 The herbarium represents collections from all parts 

 of the country. The zoological collections contain 

 specimens of most of the species of the vertebrate 

 fauna of Canada and in some lines it is very com- 

 plete. About 13,000 bird skins are catalogued and 

 carefully stored for study, and the game and fur- 

 bearing mammals are represented by many specimens. 



It is in palaeontology, hcwever, that the Geological 

 Survey Museum ranks especially high. All the 

 type specimens described by the noted Canadian 

 palaeontologists, Elkanah Billings and J. F. 

 Whiteaves (that is the specimens which were first 

 studied and upon which the species were founded) 

 are contained in the invertebrate collection, along 

 with the types cf more recent workers, and thou- 

 sands of valuable specimens gathered from all parts 

 of Canada during 75 years of exploration. In 

 vertebrate palaeontology, many line specimens re- 

 present the huge creatures of past geologic ages, and 

 the Cretaceous dinosaurs from the Red Deer Valley 

 of Alberta form a collection second only to that of 

 the American Museum of Natural History, New 

 York. These were obtained during the past six 

 years by the veteran collector, Charles H. Sternberg 

 and his sons, and were being described by the late 

 Lawrence M. Lambe. 



There are also the ores and minerals of Canada, 

 of which we may be justly proud. Specimens have 

 been collected from all parts of the country and a 

 very good display of these is now being placed on 

 exhibit in the economic museum of the Geological 

 Survey, at 227 Sparks street. 



It IS not to be supposed, however, that because of 

 the collections already made, that nothing is left to 

 be done. A museum must be a growing concern 

 like all other institutions that possess life and a 

 future. Dr. W. T. Hornaday has said that the 

 British Museum surpasses all other museums because 

 a devoted nation has for generations collected tro- 

 phies and specimens for it from all corners of the 

 earth. It remains for Canadians to give their 

 Museum such support that it may be made and kept, 

 an object of sustained national pride. 



Specialists have been appointed to take charge of 

 the various divisions cf natural history and a fair 

 start had been made in arranging public exhibits 

 when the Parliament Buildings were burned. The 

 Museum building was needed for Parliament and 

 all museum material had to be hurriedly packed and 

 stored. Thus, so far as the public is concerned 

 there has been no National Museum for the past 

 three years. The preparation of exhibits has con- 

 tinued but has been much curtailed by lack of 

 space. Plans are ready however for placing many 

 fine exhibits in the halls as soon as the building is 

 once more made available for museum purposes. 



Let us picture to ourselves what the museum may 

 some day be like. The Ethnological hall is intact 

 and with its wealth of aboriginal material may be 

 reopened on short notice. The hall of fos-^il verte- 

 brates may be quickly rearranged, so as to display 

 its huge reptilian monsters, early mammals, birds, 

 and fishes altogether a suggestive chapter of the 

 geologic past. The wonderful collection of fossil 

 shell fish and other inhabitants cf the early seas 

 when arranged according to formations and biologic 

 groups will be one of the best assemblages of its kind 

 in America. The contemplated bird group, repre- 

 senting the avifauna of southwestern Ontario (the 

 extreme southern tip of Canada), should fascinate 

 all bird lovers. Musk ox, moose, polar bear, beaver 

 and other groups of cur big game and fur bearing 

 mammals are planned and some are partly executed. 

 These with scenic backgrounds and natural acces- 

 sories, should be a source of education and delight to 

 all lovers cf nature, and to sportsmen especially. For 

 the miner and mineralogist there will be systematic 

 collections of minerals and rocks, models of mining 

 camps, and maps and plans of mines. For the 

 botanist there is the herbarium, for the entomologist 

 the insect collections and so on. 



In short, with the specialists who are in charge 

 and with the nucleus of a great collection already 

 on hand, effective, popular support expressed through 

 Parliament is all that is needed to make our museum 

 in the near future something to be proud of, an 

 educational institution, teaching effectively all 

 branches of the natural history of Canada. 



