110 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



by an exhibit of the peculiar flora of the Carboniferous. 

 The evolution or descent of an animal and its modification 

 during descent can be shown most effectively by groups 

 arranged with speciments or restorations, supplemented 

 by illustrations, so that the student grasps almost in- 

 stinctively the significance of the subject. Such lines of 

 descent as the horse, sloth, elephant, and armadillo can 

 be shown very effectively. 



Physiography naturally lends itself to the museum 

 treatment and all phases of earth processes may be illus- 

 trated most effectiveh^ The work of ice, snow, water, the 

 sea, vulcanism, erosion, these and other subjects may be 

 made clear by the use of properly constructed mo'dels of 

 effective sizes. 



The modem group idea has revolutionized museum 

 exhibits. By this medium we are able to visualize the 

 whole realm of nature, history, and art. No longer must 

 animals be seen only on shelves arranged in rows, like 

 canned goods in a grocery ; they may now be seen in their 

 natural environment, in occupations such as they per- 

 form when unmollested by their arch-enemy, Man, the 

 elaborateness and breadth of vision being limited only by 

 the pocket book of the museum. In one museum may be 

 seen the bird life of an island in the distant Pacific; in 

 another, one may hunt the mountain sheep or the grizzly 

 bear in the great mountains of the west; or visit a bird 

 rookey in Florida or the islands of the West Indies. The 

 fast disappearing native races of this and other conti- 

 nents may return and perform their ancient tribal cere- 

 monies in the groups of the museum, which often appear 

 so lifelike that one almost expects the Avax effigy to 

 breathe or to throw an upraised spear or stone through 

 the glass of the case. 



These groups need not be large or expensive. One of 

 the most effective habitat groups in the museum of the 

 University of Illinois is in a case 5x6x2 feet, in which 

 is shown an old decaying log with its characteristic ani- 

 mal life in the midst of a local environment, a small 

 patch of almost virgin woodland near the university. An 

 enlarged photographic background, tinted, makes the old 

 log appear to be in the woods, while spring flowers, birds, 



