i8 93 . SCIENCE AT THE CHICAGO EXHIBITION. 



mammoth here attracts much attention, and the taxidermy through- 

 out is good, if not remarkable." Among the Invertebrata of 

 Professor Ward's collection, the Corals and Echinoderms, notably 

 the dried and beautifully-mounted specimens of Pentacrinus, are 

 worthy of attention : for exhibition purposes these latter are certainly 

 superior to spirit-specimens, as they can be clearly seen. In the East 

 Gallery of this building are the faunal exhibits of Maine, Ohio, Colo- 

 rado, and Ontario; also "a number of specimens of taxidermy ex- 

 hibited by private persons, none of which needs special comment ; the 

 general average is poor and inartistic. The furriers in the Liberal 

 Arts Buildings have here and there a well-mounted fur animal ; a few 

 may be found in the Leather Building ; and small collections repre- 

 senting State faunas may be found in most of the buildings erected by 

 the several States or foreign countries. Most of these are poorly 

 mounted and very imperfectly labelled. Occasionally a rare creature 

 may be detected among these forlorn representatives of their kind, as 

 in the case of the Liberian hippopotamus, a mounted specimen of 

 which is included in the exhibit of that little African State. The 

 exhibit made by the State Museum of New York is creditable, clean 

 and well labelled, one of the best of the minor collections." The col- 

 lection of stuffed animals shown by British Guiana is also worthy of 

 special mention. 



It is, as above indicated, in the Government Museum that the 

 most scientific exhibits are to be looked for. Here " the National 

 Museum exhibits a mounted series showing examples of all the 

 families and most of the genera of American mammals and a 

 number of groups of North American mammals, accompanied by 

 accessories indicating the natural surroundings of the species. 

 Among these the most interesting are those containing the Rocky 

 Mountain sheep and goats, the woodland and barren-ground caribou, 

 and the Pacific sea-lions. A fine walrus might have been more life- 

 like if the taxidermist had had a better guide than Elliott's cari- 

 catures of this unfortunate animal, which, in addition to extinction, 

 seems to be doomed to posthumous misrepresentation. The most 

 important among the exhibits in this series is the mounted skin of a 

 very good example of the Alaskan sea-otter, perhaps the best existing 

 specimen in any museum. A number of large African game animals 

 are also shown, some of which are rare. Similar series, illustrating 

 the American families of birds, reptiles, and batrachians, fishes, 

 insects, etc., are also exhibited by the Museum, as well as two very 

 attractive collections of the birds of Paradise and humming-birds. 

 Several groups of species, formerly common but apparently now 

 verging on extinction, comprise the Carolina paroquet, the wild 

 pigeon, and the ivory-billed woodpecker. There are also spirited 

 groups representing the courtship of the prairie chickens, and the 

 flamingo with its singular nests." We, in England, are familiar with 

 such natural groups of birds, and excellent examples of this sort of 



