I30 NATURAL SCIENCE. August. 



completion. Mr. Minchin drew up the outline of the plan adopted, 

 and selected the specimens. The Porifera, unfortunately, are a very 

 unsatisfactory class to deal with in a Museum, their most important 

 morphological and systematic characters being microscopical. This 

 is, however, to some degree compensated by the very instructive and 

 plainly visible modification of form assumed by individual sponges. 

 A striking and very complete set of the modifications both of the 

 Sponge Person and of the Sponge Colony has been prepared. Above 

 these have been placed a series of coloured sketches drawn from life 

 at Jersey, showing the brilliant colours of sponges which cannot be 

 preserved. Then comes a series of fully described diagrams of the 

 types of canal system, next to which are the specimens illustrating 

 the classification of the group. (These do not appear in the 

 photograph, being still in another case, where they were placed 

 provisionally.) In this systematic part, short descriptions and figures of 

 the characteristic spicules, etc., are placed at the head of each division. 



Turning now to the Vertebrates. These are exhibited in the 

 old high upright cases, within which sloping backs have been fitted. 

 The Reptiles, the class to which most attention has been given, 

 occupy one side of one of the main avenues, appropriately facing the 

 famous Megalosanrus and Cetiosaums remains. The tablet space 

 devoted to this group alone is of about 240 square feet. Plate II. 

 shows the case containing the Ichthyosauria, Plesiosauria, and part 

 of the Chelonia. Below are put objects too bulky to be set on tablets, 

 while above will be placed the outline classification of each order, 

 with large and carefully-executed diagrams of the skull. The 

 descriptive labels have not yet been written. 



Besides this general collection, a few things of exceptional 

 interest or rarity have been set up in special cases. Such are a 

 series illustrating Craniometry, and another showing the principal 

 points of structural difference or resemblance between Man and the 

 Anthropoid Apes. Lastly, there is a case (Plate III.) containing the 

 Mesozoic Mammalia from the Stonesfield Slate, and the remains of 

 the famous Oxford Dodo, the last Dodo seen living in Europe. This 

 case, which was the first of the new ones completed, is arranged in 

 great detail. In the portion devoted to the Mesozoic Mammalia, we 

 have on the left the Allotheria (Multituberculata), among which we 

 may notice the long-lost fragment of Stereognafhus belonging to 

 Professor Lankester, which was only recently recovered. On the right 

 are the six jaws from the Stonesfield Slate, with an enlarged drawing, 

 history, and description below each, together with figures of all the 

 British and the most important American genera of Mesozoic 

 mammals. Alongside are placed specimens of those living forms 

 which resemble them most. The largest portion of the case is 

 occupied by the Dodo, the Solitaire, and their living allies. Most of 

 the parts of Didus and Pezophaps are compared bone for bone with 

 those of pigeons, and their affinities are fully illustrated. 



