86 THE NAUTILUS. 



displayed. Parts of perforated bulls or piles exemplify the damage 

 inflicted on the works of man by the shipworm. 



In this high latitude and damp climate the colors fade but little. 

 Protection in this respect is afforded by drawing the window blinds 

 on a bright day. 



The floor of the hall is occupied by about two hundred glass- 

 topped double-deck cases standing waist-high above chests of locked 

 drawers. These run in four rows down the room and are divided 

 by broad gangways. 



A modern policy in museum administration is to divide collections 

 into a general exhibit and a special study series. The former 

 presents an epitome of the subject for the use of the public or the 

 beginner in science, the latter to contain types and full series for the 

 study of the specialist. Such special collections are kept in rooms 

 from which the public is excluded, where books, microscopes and 

 the like are available and where drawing or dissecting can be done. 

 This arrangement is current in other departments at South Ken- 

 sington but not in that of conchology. 



Practically the whole of the museum collection of shells is exhib- 

 ited or stored in the public hall. Shown in the glass cases to the 

 general public are named examples of almost all the shells of the 

 world. 



When a specialist consults the collection, an attendant unlocks 

 the drawers or cases indicated and waits beside the student till the 

 case is to be locked up again. To the public an open case and a 

 conchologist at work are part of the show. So he is tormented and 

 distracted by rustics who try to read what he is writing in a note- 

 book, by children who want to finger the priceless types he is ex- 

 amining, or by beginners who want his help in naming shells. If 

 the public were excluded it still would be sufficiently difficult to 

 make observations and comparisons with a pocket lens in a dim-lit 

 hall and write with a fountain pen upon the cases for a table. 



Recent acquisitions to the collection are mounted in black, square, 

 glass-topped boxes, and labeled both under the lid and on the 

 bottom of the box. The bulk of the collection is, however, gummed 

 on paper-covered wooden tablets. Labeling consists of the separate 

 specific name and author, written or printed on white paper in the 

 lower center, the locality in the left lower corner. Where " type " 

 occurs it is at the left top corner. The generic name in larger print 



