234 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
line. It seems that the very rigid legal restrictions regarding the 
collecting of birds has worked a hardship both here and at Auck- 
land. 
In order that the Otago University Museum at Dunedin may 
not pass without comment because of my inability to visit it, I 
will add the following quotation from an account by H. D. Skin- 
ner’: 
‘“‘The Otago University Museum. The foundation of the pres- 
ent collections of the Museum of the University of Otago was laid 
by Dr. Hector (afterwards Sir James Hector, F.R.S.) who or- 
ganized a large and excellent natural history collection for the 
New Zealand Exhibition held in Dunedin in 1865. This collection 
formed the basis of the present museum collections, but it was 
not until 1877 that the central block of the present buildings was 
completed and opened, the first curator being Captain F. W. 
Hutton (afterward Professor Hutton, F.R.S.) Professor Hutton 
was succeeded by Professor T. J. Parker, F.R.S., under whose 
direction some of the most striking exhibits were added. Notable 
among these is the series of elasmobranch skeletons not surpassed 
in any museum in the world. The method by which they were 
prepared was worked out by Professor Parker and Edwin Jen- 
nings, museum taxidermist. 
‘‘A notable benefaction was the gift of Dr. T. M. Hocken in 
1907 of his great collection of books, manuscripts and pictures 
relating to early New Zealand and the Pacific, and his large ethno- 
graphic collection. The Hocken collection includes the largest 
series in existence of manuscripts relating to the settlement of 
New Zealand. 
‘‘The zoological collections are extensive, being especially strong 
in New Zealand birds and their eggs, in New Zealand fishes, and 
in the invertebrates. Of special interest is the series of extinet 
birds, the collection of moa remains being very extensive, and 
including eggs, feathers, skin and foot-prints as well as the largest 
number of individual skeletons in any museum. 
‘‘Perhaps the most notable exhibit here is the material from 
the moa hunter’s camp at the mouth of the Shag River, which 
ilustrates the stage of culture reached by the earliest inhabitants 
of the southern district. Their culture would seem, on the whole, 
1New Zealand Nature Notes for the Use of Members of the Australian 
Oph for the Advancement of Science, Wellington Meeting, January, 
