1899] NEWS 159 



Descending by another staircase, he finds himself close to the Tunicata, and so 

 passes clown the room between members of the whole Chordate series up to 

 man. A noticeable feature of the arrangement is the position of the Echinoderma 

 at the head of the Invertebrate series— that is to say, next to the lowest 

 Chordata, with which they are supposed to be in a measure connected, owing to 

 resemblances in the larval forms. The lower room is divided into three sections 

 by large cases placed back to back. Section A contains collections illustrating 

 the facts of geographical distribution ; Section B contains the Invertebrata, and 

 C the Yertebrata, of Ireland, and in this series an attempt is made to display 

 eveiy species of the Irish fauna. Exigencies of the museum building have 

 rendered it necessary to maintain the fossils as a separate collection ; this also 

 is arranged systematically, on a similar plan. A guide, sold for ^d., instructs 

 the casual visitor as to the route he should follow in order to obtain some idea 

 of the classification of the animal kingdom. 



The meeting of the Museums Association held at Brighton from the 3rd to 

 the 6th of July, though not largely attended by either members from a distance 

 or local well-wishers, was distinguished by the amount of serious work and dis- 

 cussion that was got through, and the absence of purely gaseous matter. The 

 Mayor of Brighton made an excellent honorary president, and delegated the 

 task of delivering an opening address to Mr. Henry Willett, who scattered over 

 a wide field his suggestive and humorous remarks. Mr. G. H. Carpenter 

 described the re-arrangement of the natural history collections in the Science 

 and Art Museum, Dublin, and we give the gist of his paper in the above para- 

 graph. Mr. H. Coats sent a note on a children's prize essay competition in the 

 Perth Museum ; he seems to have met with success, but the idea of inciting 

 children to this study by means of rewards, was opposed by some curators 

 experienced in this matter. Mr. A. M. Rodger of Perth showed an insect box 

 adapted for exhibition or for stowing away as a drawer. Mr. B. Lomax gave 

 an interesting account of the perpetual exhibition of living plants in the Brighton 

 Museum. Mr. J. V. Hodgson described the preparations for the new museum at 

 Plymouth, and was asked by many of his fellow-curators whether nothing could be 

 done to render the valuable Cottonian collection of art objects more accessible 

 to students and to the public. Mr. B. H. Mullen again brought up the subject 

 of a directory to the Museums of the United Kingdom, a work that would be of 

 use to many besides the curators themselves. Mr. Harlan J. Smith sent some 

 valuable suggestions as to the preservation of local archaeological evidences, as 

 well as a description of the Museums of British Columbia, previously published 

 in the American Naturalist. Another previously published paper was that on 

 ink and paper for museum labels, by Dr. R. T. Jackson, which appeared in the 

 Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and 

 was now communicated by Mr. F. A. Bather, with the result of initiating a long- 

 discussion. A paper by Mr. Stewart Culm of Pennsylvania University gave a 

 laudatory description of some museums in Dresden and Berlin. Museum 

 preparations of marine animals by Dr. H. C. Sorby, ethnological photographs by 

 Dr. H. O. Forbes, paper-covered tablets from the Horniman Museum, and a gorilla 

 mounted by Brazenor Brothers for the Bristol Museum, were among the objects 

 on view. During the week members visited the Brighton Museum under the 

 guidance of Mr. Lomax, Mr. E. Crane, Mr. Thomas, and Prof. Boyd Dawkins ; 

 and the Booth Bird Museum under the lead of Mr. A. F. Griffith ; the Aquarium, 

 the apartments of the Pavilion, in which building the business and convivial 

 meetings were held ; and finally, in charge of Mr. E. A. Pankhurst, they went 

 as guests of the local committee to Lewes, where papers were read by Messrs. 

 C Dawson, J. Lewis, and G. de Paris. 



We have received a prospectus of the exhibition of horticultural photographs 

 which will be arranged in connection with the fourteenth " One and All " Flower 

 Show at the Crystal Palace on the 14th and 19th August. In one class the 



