2 So 



THE MUSEUM. 



pears white in contrast to the other 

 color. 



The principal supply of agates for 

 the last hundred years has come from 

 Brazil and other South American 

 countries, where the stone is mostly 

 found by Germans who leave Olden- 

 burg for that purpose, and who per- 

 severe until they find it. Thence it is 

 sent to Germany for cutting, chiefly to 

 Oberstein and Idar. Every fortnight 

 from five to ten tons of the rough ma- 

 terial is sold in Idar at public auction, 

 usually in assorted lots of too or 200 

 pounds. The industry yields to the 

 district an annual net profit of half a 

 million dollars, and good agate work- 

 men are among the best paid laborers 

 in Germany. — The Mineral Collector. 



Some Notes on the Collection of 



Shells in the Museums of Paris, 



Berlin and Amsterdam. 



The collection of shells in the Mu- 

 seum of Zoology, Jardin des Plantes, 

 Paris, says C. W. Johnson in October 

 Nautilus, is one often referred to as 

 being the only collection in which you 

 can see the recent and fossil species 

 side by side. One, therefore, natural- 

 ly imagines what such a collection 

 should be, and under the circum- 

 stances, one is somewhat disappointed. 

 The collection is described as follows: 

 Around the entire outer portion or rail- 

 ing of the first gallery, in a case 

 about two feet in width, are arranged 

 the Pelecypoda, while on the second 

 gallery around the entire wall, in a 

 wide, slanting case or shelf (with cor- 

 als above and a series of eight drawers 

 beneath) are arranged the Gastropoda. 

 This necessarily scatters the collection 

 to a great extent, and makes it very 

 inconvenient. A collection of the re- 

 cent and fossil species arranged to- 

 gether is very interesting and instruct- 

 ive, but it should be a special collect- 

 ion of such forms as can be readily 

 traced back through geological time, 

 and which anyone would consider to 

 be the prototypes of the recent species; 

 in other words, the primary object of 

 such a collection should be to show 



the evolution of species and genera. 

 The study of recent and fossil mollusca 

 is now di\'ided into well defined spec- 

 ialties; no one person can cover with 

 success more than a few closely relat- 

 ed groups, faunae or formations; so it 

 seems to us that a large collection 

 should be arranged accordingly. The 

 paleontologist must be a geologist, al- 

 so; he 'cannot ignore stratigraphy; 

 therefore the collection most conven- 

 ient to him is arranged geologically; 

 again he is making a special study of 

 the tertiary mollusca, and has, for in- 

 stance, a collection of Paris Basin fos- 

 sils, he would not want to travel two 

 or three hundred linear feet, on two 

 or three different galleries to deter- 

 mine his material. Neither would the 

 collector of recent shells want to delve 

 among the overwhelming mass of fos- 

 sils to name his collection. 1 think 

 that we can therefore lay aside this 

 plan (which is advocated by many) as 

 being entirely inconsistent with our 

 present system of investigation. The 

 specimens in the Museum are mounted 

 on tablets, the recent on white and 

 the fossil on yellow, the label being 

 pasted on the lower edge of the tablet. 

 The collection of Mollusca in the 

 Museum of Natural History of Berlin, 

 presents many features of interest. It 

 occupies one-half of a large room, that 

 is divided into small alcoves by tall, 

 upright cases. All of the alcoves open 

 into a passage-way, along the side of 

 the room, leaving three sides for the 

 display of specimens. Each alcove is 

 about 20x30 feet, and in the center of 

 each is a long horizontal case, with 

 drawers beneath, containing an e.xhib- 

 it of the land and fresh water shells of 

 Germany, and the mollusca of the 

 North and Mediterranean Seas. The 

 latter are arranged longitudinally in a 

 series, the one above the other. The 

 condition of the two seas being so dif- 

 ferent, the two collections form a very 

 interesting comparison. The general 

 collection is arranged in the upright 

 cases in cardboard trays, above which 

 the printed label is held by a small 

 card holder. In the upper part of the 



