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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



palaeontology in the IVIuseum has main- 

 tained a "Columbia room" and two of 

 the University graduate courses in 

 zoology (Evolution of Vertebrates and a 

 course on ]Mammals) are given by 

 Professor ^Y. K. Gregory at the iVIu- 

 seum entirely, owing to the fact that 

 all the material used in these courses 

 belongs to the study collections of the 

 Museum. The proximity of the Mu- 

 seum thus renders the maintenance of 

 a large University museum unnecessary, 

 and the University department of zool- 

 ogy, consequently, has only a relatively 

 small, although under the conditions 

 ample, teaching collection. 



In the personal experience of the 

 writer, the Museum material is espe- 

 cially valuable in connection with a 

 class in second-year zoology (to which a 

 year of general biology and elementary 

 zoology is prerequisite), a full year 

 course in straight zo5logy, in which all 

 the animal phyla, beginning with Pro- 

 tozoa and ending with mammals, are 

 studied in lecture room, textbook, and 

 laboratory. As a regular part of this 

 course four visits to the Museum are 

 made during the year. The first of 

 these occurs after the Protozoa, sponges, 

 coelenterates, and flatworms have been 

 studied, and is devoted to these groups 

 as presented in the Darwin hall of the 

 Museum. The students, having previ- 

 ously studied these forms in the labora- 

 tory, the Museum visit affords a valuable 

 review, and in the case of a considerable 

 number of forms which it is not practica- 

 ble to study in the laboratory, enlarged 

 models serve to elucidate their structure 

 which otherwise would be known to the 

 student only through descriptions and 

 illustrations in books. Many persons 

 are deficient in the ability to visualize 

 or form any adequate image of structure 

 in three dimensions from study of flat 

 diagrams and pictures; in such cases 



these solid models prove to be most 

 helpful. 



As examples, may be cited the glass 

 models of certain Radiolaria which show, 

 in the clearest manner, not only the 

 silicious skeleton but the protoplasmic 

 structure, central capsule, and other 

 structural detail. As a matter of fact 

 the classes study prepared slides of radio- 

 larian skeletons and stained total mounts 

 and sections in the laboratory, but the 

 beautiful tridimensional models, many 

 of which are marvels of delicacy, give 

 a new interest to the subject. The 

 enlarged model of a portion of a mille- 

 pore colony also illustrates the structure 

 of a type which it is quite impossible to 

 study satisfactorily from actual pre- 

 served material. The models showing 

 the embryonic development of a stone 

 coral, and others illustrating the method 

 of secretion of the corallum and its 

 relations to the soft parts in various 

 corals are also studied with profit. 

 Another series illustrating the essentials 

 of structure of the various types of 

 sponges, a group notoriously difficult to 

 work out (with the exception of the 

 simple calcareous forms), is in prepara- 

 tion and will prove very helpful. 



A second session in the Darwin hall 

 some weeks later is devoted to the study 

 of the various , worms, Rotifera, mol- 

 lusks, and echinoderms. 



In the spring term the life groups of 

 lower vertebrates — the hagfishes, lam- 

 preys, lungfishes, the various ganoids 

 [Who could forget the group of spoon- 

 bill sturgeons?], and the especially beau- 

 tiful amphibian exhibits, the frog pool 

 and the home of the hellbenders, are 

 visited, and these are among the finest 

 zoological preparations in the Museum. 

 Attention is given to some of the more 

 important fossil fishes such as the 

 cladoselachid sharks with their primi- 

 tive lateral fins, and the armored 



