18 



specimens, all chosen so as best to illustrate the order of strata, 

 and arranged according to age ; from these it passes on to the 

 vegetable and animal kingdoms, every group being represented 

 in its turn as far as practicable, and a model or drawing, or a 

 tracing from some liublished figure, being introduced as a 

 substitute in those cases in which no si:)ecimens of the required 

 typical species could be i^rocured." This was the work of 

 Professor Henslow, a labour of love to which he devoted much of 

 his time and attention ; and his master mind has left us tlie 

 Ipswich Museum as — itself a type 3fuscurii — a specimen of what 

 other Museums should be, or should at least aim at. For the 

 further guidance of those who assist in the formation or manage- 

 ment of provincial Museums, he " drew up, at the request of 

 the Natural History Section of the British Association, a Report 

 *on Typical Series of objects in Natural History adapted to 

 Local Museums,' in which a list is given of such species and 

 objects as form the best selection for such a purpose, the same 

 having been supplied to him by different naturalists who had 

 made different departments of the subject their particular study."* 

 The instruction to be derived from a Museum will depend 

 much, in addition to the arrangement, upon the proper labelling 

 of the specimens. This is a point not sufficiently attended to. 

 We generally see specimens with nothing more on the labels 

 than the bare name, or the country from which they come ; 

 whereas a few additional facts respecting their affinities, structure, 

 or uses, or a short statement of anything remarkable in their 

 history, would add greatly to their value, as well as to the 

 amount of information obtained respecting them by visitors to 

 the Museum. The Kew Museum of economic botany is an 

 excellent example of such teaching, as applied to the various 

 vegetable products available in the arts, and to the manufactures 



* The above Report will be found in the volume of Reports of the 

 British Association for 1855. 



