EXHIBITION COLLECTIONS 43 



Main Hall 



In the hallway are a number of significant special exhibits. Along 

 one side is the series of birds' nests showing the progressive elabora- 

 tion in avian architecture. Here are nests from the most simple to 

 the most complicated and curious. In the flat table case are ex- 

 amples of "mimicry" in insects and a set of the gorgeous tree snails 

 of the genus Liguus to show the range of variation within one com- 

 pact and closely related group of species. A bronze plaque, a photo- 

 graph and some exquisite drawing commemorate the work of M. 

 Jacques Burkhardt, for long years the unrivalled artist who illus- 

 trated the Museum publications and who lived as a member of Louis 

 Agassiz's household. On another wall is a long panel of a group of 

 white herons rising from a forest pool. This is the greatest artistic 

 treasure belonging to the Museum and was given to it by its creator, 

 Frank W. Benson. Several portraits hang near it. One is Professor 

 ■E. L. Mark, Hersey Professor of Anatomy from 1885 to 1921. The 

 portrait of Humboldt formerly belonged to Agassiz. That of Agassiz 

 was given by Captain C. H. Davis, U. S. N. Professor J. D. Whitney 

 was long Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology in the days when that 

 chair was held in this Museum. 



From the ceiling hang two skeletons, one that of the narwhal, the 

 other one of the Museum's most valued possessions. It is the skeleton 

 of Steller's sea cow, perhaps the most perfect known, collected by Dr. 

 L. Stejneger, at Behring Island, 1882-83. The animal has been ex- 

 tinct over 100 years. In the stair well hang three pictures. One is a 

 portrait of Audubon, from the estate of the late William Brewster, 

 after, or perhaps in part by, Healey. The others, Audubon's two 

 greatest masterpieces, were given by John Eliot Thayer to the Mu- 

 seum but shortly before his death. Their history is set forth on the 

 tablets beneath them designed by C. Howard Walker, who also de- 

 signed the Burkhardt tablet, and the one in the Agassiz Coral Reef 

 Room. 



Passing from the Main Hall one enters two more of the rooms de- 

 voted to zoogeography. 



