so POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



invitations were sent to people who do not generally visit the collection, 

 and the results in attendance and interest were most gratifying. The 

 daily attendance on the museum makes a total for the year of about 

 30,000, and this number steadily increases. 



Several scientific societies find their home in the museum building. 

 The botanical society has for many years held weekly meetings during 

 the spring, summer and fall. The herbarium is in charge of the curator. 

 The geological club uses the collections and reference books and as one 

 result of its excursions specimens are added to the museum. By means 

 of this club young people are given an interest in local geology and with 

 this object in view the organization is making a careful study of the 

 formations in and about Springfield, with excursions to interesting 

 localities. The zoological club maintains a series of valuable meetings 

 and has been fortunate in securing able lecturers from the many educa- 

 tional institutions in the near neighborhood. Meetings of all these 

 societies are open to the public. There are now under consideration 

 plans for the organization of holiday and vacation rambles whereby 

 groups of children may be brought into sympathetic and intelligent 

 relations with their surroundings and individually interested in par- 

 ticular phases of nature study. For mature minds regular lecture 

 courses conducted on university extension methods are a possibility of 

 the near future. 



Another means of enlisting popular interest and promoting serious 

 study has been found in special exhibits made from time to time. In 

 the late winter, spring and early summer, the migrant birds that appear 

 each month are displayed on the table and the specimens denoted by 

 their scientific and popular names. Reliable reference books are near at 

 hand. On the bulletin board a calendar is kept of the appearance of 

 each species and a comparison made with the dates of previous years. 

 These observations are printed in the annual report of the museum. 

 The results for last spring, 1902, pointed to an unusually early arrival 

 of many migrants. A similar arrangement is followed on the table 

 devoted to botany, where one finds buds and blossoms as they appear. 

 Early in the year the winter condition of certain plants is shown, and 

 the progress in the development of leaf, buds and blossoms as they 

 advance. On February 15, the chickweed, Stellaria lucidca, was found 

 in bloom, and on the twenty-eighth, the skunk-cabbage, Symplocarpus. 

 fcetidus. The hood of the latter was cut so as to expose the spadix with 

 its many flowers. Then followed in order, hepatica, bloodroot, marsh 

 marigold, trailing arbutus and other spring flowers and tree blossoms. 

 By the opening of June the exhibition had reached such an extent that 

 another table was added. Twelve species of orchids were shown. One 

 rare and beautiful flower, the Pentstemon grandiflorus, not supposed 

 to exist east of the Mississippi, was found on the outskirts of the city. 



