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factors of the normal outdoor environ- 
ment of plants and animals. This, it 
seems, is true to a degree of any city 
child, but it is especially noticeable 
in the children of the lower congested 
portions of our great city, with its com- 
plex artificial environment and its abso- 
lute lack of normal relations existing 
between plants and animals in nature. 
To an increasing degree therefore, 
the American Museum has come to play 
an important part in filling in and round- 
ing out certain biological concepts as 
taught in our secondary school courses 
in this city. Not only is the Museum 
fulfilling its “big brother” capacity 
through sending out its loan collections 
of hygiene charts, its bird and insect 
collections, but also within its walls it 
has several valuable collections and 
groups which are of very great direct 
service to those of us who are near 
enough to use them for laboratory exer- 
cises. The hygiene exhibit, with its 
striking moral of public and private 
sanitation and hygiene, applies directly 
and indeed constantly, in its many- 
sided relationship, to the biological prob- 
lems as taught in a city high school. 
The Darwin hall, with its synoptic col- 
lections, enables the older pupils in 
advanced high school courses to obtain 
the meaning of evolutionary series, vari- 
ation and the struggle for existence. 
The bird, reptile and amphibian groups 
are of especial value to the high school 
pupil and teacher because of the clear 
text illustrating adaptations. 
All the readers of the JOURNAL are 
doubtless familiar with the habitat 
bird groups and the no less beautiful 
bullfrog group. But not all perhaps, are 
aware of the new toad group, which 
with its neighbors, the bullfrog, giant 
salamander and desert lizard groups, 
lies modestly hidden in the black re- 
cesses of the alcove on the second floor. 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Those of us who know Miss Dickerson’s 
Frog Book and its value, recognize at 
once the authoritative effectiveness of 
this series of groups. 
The new toad group breathes the very 
atmosphere of spring, with its opening 
buds and apple blooms. A tiny pool, 
spring-fed, close to the broken-down 
stone wall, the tangle of shrubs, under- 
growth and cat brier, the spring flowers — 
violets, adder’s-tongue, cowslip — and 
the warblers perched on shrub and tree, 
mark the time of year. The chief value 
of the group, from the standpoint of the 
teacher of biology, lies in the amphibian 
life that it contains, and the usefulness 
of these types in demonstrating the idea 
of adaptation to environment. 
In the right-hand corner of the group 
may be found numerous specimens of our 
common tree frog (Hyla versicolor). I 
say numerous with intention, because 
at each successive visit to this group I 
have found at least one more specimen, 
tucked away in some inconspicuous 
place and blending perfectly with its 
surroundings. What better material 
could we ask for the study of the adapta- 
tion illustrated by protective coloration? 
(And thisin spite of the Neo-Darwinians!) 
Toward the back and at the left are 
found examples of Fowler’s toad, one of 
our two common toads. Its life history 
is suggested in the egg strings, fresh laid 
at the first of May, and the adults, which 
we know in connection with gardens 
and dry land, also in the water. On 
the opposite side of the group is seen the 
larger and browner American toad and 
its tiny black tadpoles; for this toad 
lays its eggs about two weeks earlier 
than the Fowler’s toad. 
It is unnecessary to tell a teacher that 
in order to have a successful field or 
museum trip, he must first visit the 
locality, pick out the salient points of 
interest and work out a series of con- 
