almost like mere rei>etitions of tlie same form, serving only to 

 distract the attention by their multitiide. No doubt it is of 

 great imjjortance to collect and preserve the latter, however 

 numerous they may be, for study and comparison ; indeed we 

 shall never otherwise be able to approach the solution of that 

 vexed cjuestion as to what is really a species and what is not. 

 But such a collection is only of use to naturalists who go into all 

 the details of the science ; and by them it can be consulted much 

 better, when stored away in drawers as above alluded to, than 

 when all the specimens are mounted in glass case^, conveying ta 

 the minds of ordinary spectators no definite ideas profitable for 

 their instruction. 



But it is unnecessary to jnirsue this inquiry, as also to speak 

 of the method of arrangement of such select specimens, as it may 

 be thought desirable to expose to the public view ; — whether it 

 be better to have them all on separate stands in large wall-cases 

 with glass fronts, as in the Bird Gallery of the British Museum, 

 — or in cases of a more limited size, each case containing a 

 particular group, or adapted to the special purpose of illustrating 

 certain species having a particular interest, from circumstances 

 connected with their history, mode of life, the country to which 

 they belong, or in some instances from their economic uses. 



The whole of this subject was considered in- full detail by Dr. 

 Gray in an excellent address delivered by him as President of 

 the Natural History Section of the British Association at its late 

 meeting in Bath, and to it* I would refer all who interest 

 themselves in the management of large public Museums, having 

 for their object a general display of the animals of all countries, 

 the onlj- selection being that of the specimens to be brought 

 forward, or kept back from o\wa view, as it may happen, upon 

 the plan suggested above. 



• The above Address may be found iu the volume containing a 

 Reprint of the Bath Chronicle "Repovts of the Meeting, p. 52. 



