THE MUSEUM. 



THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine davoted to Ornithology, 



Oology, Mollusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences. 



Walter F. Webb, Editor and Manager 

 Albion, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of Interest on above top- 

 ics, as well as notes on tlie various Museiiras of the 

 World— views from same, discoveries relative to the 

 handling and keeping of Natural History material, 

 descriptive habits of various species, are solicited 

 from all. 



Make articles as brief as possible and as free from 

 technical terms as the subjects will allow. All letters 

 will be promptly answered. 



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Notes. 



We owe an explanation to our read- 

 ers. The February number was got- 

 ten out entirely during my absence in 

 Chicago and the present number is 

 fully a week behind owing to a trip 

 East mainly to Boston. During Feb- 

 ruary through the courtesy of the Gen- 

 eral Passenger Agent of the Grand 

 Trunk R. R., we received passes to 

 Chicago and return. Owing to our 

 having formerly been located in Chi- 

 cago in '93-4 we expected to feel quite 

 at home there, but the various elevat- 

 ed roads that have sprung up in that 

 city like mushrooms fairly confused 

 us. Still after some inquiry we suc- 

 ceeded in locating all that is now left 

 of the famous "White City" at Jack- 

 son Park, viz: The Art Building, now 

 called The Field Columbian Museum. 

 Six hours spent in this mammoth 

 building scarcely did justice to the 

 Mullusca alone The shell collection 

 is very incomplete, many common 



things still lacking, and doubtless 

 through the oversight of clerks some 

 labe s misplaced and quite a number 

 wrongly named. Still as a whole it is 

 nicely arranged and a very interesting 

 lot throughout. 



One pleasant evening was spent 

 with Dr. T. H. McCoy. He is a vet- 

 eran shell man whose enthusiasm nev- 

 er flags. His specialty is Conus and 

 Cyprasa and one can here see a very 

 fine selected lot of these families as 

 well as Conchology in general. A 

 couple of years ago the Doctor spent a 

 year abroad only, however, finding two 

 or three new Cypra;a to add to his col- 

 lection. His shells are mainly ar- 

 ranged in beautiful wall cases with 

 narrow shelves so that one can see the 

 entire collection without opening a 

 draw or handling a specimen. The 

 beautiful effects that can be made by 

 showy shells arranged in this way must 

 be seen to be appreciated. 



Anotiier entire forenoon was pleas- 

 antly spent examining the large shell 

 collection of Mrs. Williams. While 

 her time is almost entirely taken up 

 with literary work she has still suc- 

 ceeded in building up since 1S93 a su- 

 perb collection of shells. They are 

 arranged by families in beautiful glass 

 cabinets in the library, parlor and even 

 several rooms of the second story. In 

 fact as Mrs. W. laughingly remarked, 

 she had got to quit before long or they 

 would force her out of her own home. 

 Her collection of Cypra;a is very large, 

 we believe some 210 species and va- 

 rieties, while the suites of Conus, Mu- 

 rex and other showy families we doubt 

 can be excelled in this country, if in 

 fact equalled. Our time was all too 

 short to do justice to the collection, 

 still we must mention the case of pol- 

 ished unios, which consists of some 

 1 30 species and probably 300 to 400 

 pairs. Every color of Pearl one can 

 imagine is here shown in great pro- 

 fusion. We were also particularly 

 struck with the beautiful coloring of 

 the many species of "Mussel" shells, 

 all finely polished and showing all 



