476 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sixth of all the known species. It is esjjecially rich in African and 

 South American kinds, collected, at great expense, by expeditions 

 sent out by the baron at his sole charge. 



In Dresden, world-renowned for its galleries of art, and for 

 museums illustrative of kindred departments, one would naturally 

 look for a correspondingly ricli Natural History Museum, Still, small 

 and disappointing as the Di-esden Museum of Natural History is, it 

 contains the typical collections in oology of the late Dr. Thienemann, 

 and therefore cannot be passed by in total silence. This museum 

 has been recently placed under the charge of Dr. Adolf B. Meyer, a 

 distinguished ornithological explorer in New Zealand, and his acces- 

 sion has already been followed by reconstructions full of promise. 

 The Thienemann oological collection is an immense one, has been 

 gathered from all parts of the world, and contains all the types of liis 

 illustrated work on oology. Unfortunately, in the latter part of his 

 life he suffered his vast collection to lapse into great disorder. He 

 ceased to continue a systematic arrangement; successive additions 

 were but partially unpacked, and the identifications of many forever 

 lost, or rendered doubtful. After Dr. Thienemann's death his family 

 presented his collection, in this chaotic condition, to the Royal Mu- 

 seum, and time has but added to the confusion. Labels have been 

 misplaced, and the best of experts cannot always restore them with 

 certainty. Nevertheless there are still materials for creating by far 

 the largest and richest public oological collection in Europe. It 

 abounds in very rare and choice kinds; among others, no less than 

 seven eggs of the ivory gull an ^^^ so rare that only two others are 

 known to be in any museums, one in Dublin and one in Copenhagen. 



The extensive museum of Berlin, owing to the inclemency of the 

 weather and the rooms not being heated, could only be partially and 

 hastily examined. The general plan of arrangement was simple and 

 good, and the specimens appeared to be in excellent condition. It 

 possesses a small but valuable and well-arranged collection of eggs, 

 in which the great point of interest is a series of nests and eggs from 

 Siberia, collected by a man of science exiled to that desolate region ; 

 many of these are very rare and unknown to other collections. The 

 mineralogical collection is one of the most extensive on the Continent, 

 and is especially rich in meteorolites. Its great interest centres in the 

 collections brought by Humboldt from Central and South America. 

 Dr. William Peters, a distinguished naturalist, is at the head of this 

 museum, and the ornithology is under the charge of the venerable 

 John Cabanis, who ranks high in his department, and is well known 

 as the editor of the Journal of Ornithology. 



The Imperial Cabinet of Natural History of Vienna deserves 

 fuller mention than our space permits. Its vast collections would 

 require almost a lifetime to examine exhaustively, and no single vol- 

 ume could do justice to all their various points of interest. Indeed, a 



