THE AMERICAN MUSEUM AND COLLEGE ZOOLOGY 



539 



Amphibia or stegocephalians, so note- 

 worthy in the evohitionary history of 

 land vertebrates. 



Near the end of the college year a 

 fourth Museum excursion is made, this 

 time to the collections illustrating the 

 morphology and evolution of the higher 

 vertebrates — - the reptiles, birds and 

 mammals. The halls of fossil reptiles 

 and mammals contain perhaps the 

 rarest treasures of the Museum. Only 

 a small number of these exhibits are 

 considered with the college classes, but 

 a few of the more important, notably 

 the chief types of dinosaurs, the various 

 orders of extinct marine reptiles with 

 their remarkable adaptations to aquatic 

 life, and the ancient toothed birds are 

 examined. Of course, the famous gal- 

 lery of avian life groups is visited. 



Among the exhibits of recent mam- 

 mals, the whale gallery must be men- 

 ^tioned, as the adaptation of these 

 creatures to fishlike habit is shown in 

 many features which may be instruc- 

 tively compared with those of the 

 swimming ichthyosaurs among the ex- 

 tinct reptiles. The exhibits of the 

 evolution of the horse and of the ele- 

 phants are also worth careful study; 

 indeed, as material for the historic 

 illustration of organic evolution, the 

 teeth and feet of the horses rank among 

 the classic examples. Instances of adap- 

 tation, in color, form and what not, are 

 to be seen literally in almost every 

 Museum case. As for species variation, 

 special installations have been made to 

 illustrate this in moUuscan shells, birds 

 and small mammals. Recently models 

 have been made to illustrate the Mende- 

 lian principle in heredity in the classic 

 case of the pea, and other models of a 

 similar sort are in preparation. 



In enumerating the aids to zoological 



stud}' offered by the Museum, mention 

 must be made of the special guide 

 leaflets to various groups published from 

 time to time. A number of these, as for 

 example the one on the " Evolution of 

 the Horse" are more than mere guides, 

 are indeed excellent brief monographs, 

 and are recommended to the students 

 for careful reading. 



Regarding the matter of guidebooks, 

 the writer has sometimes wondered 

 whether, in addition to the special guide 

 leaflets, something in the nature of a 

 general "students' guidebook" to the 

 zoological exhibits might be practicable 

 — a sort of systematic index to the more 

 im^Dortant illustrations of the structure, 

 mode of life, and evolution of all the 

 chief groups of animals, living and fossil. 



Columbia University, owing to its 

 relative proximity to the Museum and 

 to the close relations between the 

 scientific staffs of the two institutions, 

 perhaps has enjoyed the benefits of the 

 Museum somewhat more fully than 

 have some of the other colleges in the 

 city, but classes from other institutions, 

 notably from New York University, the 

 College of the City of New York and 

 Hunter College, utilize the Museum in 

 essentially the same manner as do the 

 Columbia classes; and as for secondary 

 and high school classes in zoology, any 

 frequent Museum visitor must realize 

 the extent to which these younger 

 students avail themselves of its re- 

 sources. 



The writer feels sure that the zoology 

 teachers of the city, whether engaged 

 in high school, college, or university 

 instruction, are unanimous in their 

 appreciation of the fact that the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History gives 

 New York a great and unique advantage 

 in zoological education. 



