62 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



used for researcl> purposes aud which would be the basis 

 for scientific papers. It is highly desirable that the Uni- 

 versity should accumulate a large amount of research ma- 

 terial which has been used for the advancement of Science, 

 that it may draw men to study this material in connection 

 with further advancement of knowledge. Such collections 

 should be placed in comfortable rooms, systematically 

 arranged in easily accessible cases, the different subjects 

 occupying separate rooms. The possession of type material 

 places a museum in a position of value and usefulness not 

 possible for an institution not having such collections. A 

 good beginning has been made in this line of development 

 and new material is being added very rapidly. Collections 

 which have formed the basis for one large volume and a 

 number of smaller papers are now in the research series of 

 the Natural History Museum. 



Tlie present available exhibition space in the Natural 

 History Building is limited to the small museum hall and 

 the corridors on the three floors of this building. A synop- 

 tic series of animal life, including both living and extinct 

 groups, is being prepared and is partly completed and on 

 exldbition, whicli will fill half of tlie space in the museum 

 hall. Tins includes selected, typical specimens representa- 

 tive of the higher groups ; models, diagrams, drawings, and 

 full descriptive labels. x\. model sliowiug the twelve most 

 injurious insects that infest the corn plant has been pre- 

 pared, the group containing models in wax of the corn 

 plants with the insects in ail stages of growth feeding upon 

 the plant. Carefully prepared labels describe the insects 

 and their work and are made simple enough for the aver- 

 age farmer to understand. A habitat group, with a photo- 

 graphic enlargement of the old Brownfield woods near 

 Urbana for its background, and with the plants character- 

 istic of such a locality, shows the animal life in and about 

 an old decaying log. Other exhibits along these educa- 

 tional lines are in preparation. 



A number of our American universities possess museums 

 of large size, — Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Pennsylvania, 

 Chicago, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, — and some of these 

 museums contain material that has formed the basis for 

 classical works in the Natural Sciences. Why should not 

 Illinois also be numbered among these universities with a 

 museum containing valuable and interesting collections 



