PAL/EONTOLOGY. 149 



The only cure for the second tendency is to read 

 Darwin's " Origin of Species," and persons who will not 

 -do that may be given up as hopeless. 



The last and most direct cause of the production of 

 synonyms is only to be avoided by greater industry and 

 carefulness, and by making fuller acquaintance with 

 the work done in foreign countries ; in this endeavour 

 palaeontologists will be greatly assisted by the annual 

 publication of the " Geological Record," their only regret 

 probably being that it had not an earlier commencement. 

 Arrangement of Collections. We have often been 

 questioned as to the best mode of displaying and 

 arranging fossils. With regard to the mode of arrange- 

 ment, whether according to their place in the succes- 

 sion of life or in the succession of strata, there can be 

 only one answer : the latter is always preferable for 

 geological purposes, however much the former may 

 commend itself to the pure biologist. 



Nevertheless, in collections of any size, it is always 

 possible to have zoological arrangement, by placing to- 

 gether those of the same natural group and cla.ss, and 

 pursuing the same order of classes throughout all the 

 formations. 



Secondly, regarding the method of displaying the 

 fossils themselves : in museums, where the collections 

 are supposed to be perfected, and to remain as arranged 

 for many years, the specimens are generally fastened 

 down on tablets ; but in private collections, which are 

 used for constant reference, and to which frequent ad- 

 ditions are made, such a plan is attended with many 

 disadvantages. The simpler and better way is to place 

 them in small card-board trays, made of multiple sizes 



