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NATURAL SCIENCE: 



A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress. 



No. 52. Vol. VIII. JUNE. 1896. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Progress at the Natural History Museum. 



THE most obvious change that has lately been made at the 

 British Museum (Natural History) is the removal of the huge 

 skeleton of the sperm-whale from the middle of the entrance-hall to a 

 more appropriate place in the large temporary room recently erected 

 at the back of the Museum for the Cetacea. This will make room 

 for more of the beautiful cases that illustrate such subjects as 

 Mimicry, Protective Coloration, Seasonal Variation, and Albinism. 



The Introductory Series, or " Index Collection," arranged under 

 the supervision of Sir William Flower in the bays round the central 

 hall, continues to advance. The work begun many years ago by the 

 late R. S. Wray, then assistant to the Director, is being continued in 

 the same careful manner by his successor, W. G. Ridewood, with all 

 the advantages of modern museum technique. The latest portion of 

 the series to be finished is in the bay devoted to the anatomy of fishes, 

 including the lancelet and the lampreys, and illustrates the structure 

 and development of fishes' teeth. A paper which may serve the 

 student as a companion to, and memento of, this exhibit has kindly 

 been contributed by Mr. Ridewoxid to the present number ; the 

 illustrations to it are not mere reproductions of text-book cliches, 

 but have been accurately drawn from the exhibited specimens by 

 Mr. J. Green. 



We may remind our readers that we have already published 

 articles on portions of this Introductory Series, namely, " The Teeth 

 of the Horse " (vol. vi., p. 249, April, 1895) ^"^^ " Morphology at the 

 National Museum " (vol. vii., p. 258, October, 1895). We hope that, 

 as the work progresses, we may be able to furnish students with more 

 of these valuable summaries. 



Birds and Mammals at the British Museum. 

 Passing into the Zoological Department, we find changes taking 

 place on all sides, and some of them form the subject of Sir Henry 

 Howorth's " Casual Thoughts " on a following page. The nests of 



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