Arrangement of the Collection. 67 



1886-87. 



ARRANGEMENT OF THE COLLECTION. 



The formation and arrangement of the exhibitions in the 1886-1887. 

 several galleries had been pushed forward, so that when the 

 British Saloon was completed on July 8th the whole of the 

 zoological galleries were open to the public. All the study- 

 series had been accessible to students for some time. Attention 

 had now to be paid to the improvement of numberless details ; 

 the labels* in the Mammalian, Reptile, Shell, Starfish and Coral 

 Galleries were revised, and many additional specimens were 

 selected and mounted for exhibition ; thus some remarkable 

 Antarctic types were mounted for the Cetacean room, among them 

 Mesoplodon hectoris, Neobalsena marginata, etc., which had been 

 acquired in 1876 by exchange from the Wellington Museum, 

 New Zealand. 



Unfortunately, this and other work was much interrupted by 

 the protracted illness of several members of the staff. 



In Mammalia Mr. Thomas commenced a thorough re- 

 examination of the Marsupialia and Monotremata, with the 

 view of preparing a descriptive catalogue. 



In the Bird Gallery no systematic revision of the arrangement 

 could be attempted before the plethoric condition of the Bird 

 Room was reduced to general order and the large mass of new 

 additions registered and incorporated. The arrangement and 

 cataloguing of Passerine Birds were continued, and made satis- 

 factory progress by the employment of external aid. 



Mr. Boulenger completed the arrangement of Lizards and 



* In the preparation of labels the old plan was generally adhered to ; 

 they gave information as to the technical and popular names, and the 

 native country of the specimen, with the addition of the name of the donor, 

 if it was presented. In those cases in which further information seemed 

 to be desirable it was given as concisely as possible. The words were 

 written in bold letters either on the stand or on a separate sycamore-tablet, 

 and could be read without difficulty from a distance. Each case, of course, 

 was also labelled with the name of the group to which its contents 

 belonged. An Attendant, who had practised calligraphy, was exclusively 

 occupied in writing the labels. The Keeper, like his predecessor, had 

 no faith in the utility to the public of long descriptive labels, generally 

 printed in type of ordinary size. The public find it too fatiguing, even if 

 they had the time, to instruct themselves by reading such labels. They 

 visit the Museum to see the objects, and those in whom an interest has 

 been excited should find the desired instruction in a well written guide- 

 book, either on the spot with the specimen before them or after they 

 have reached their home. An exception was made with the labels for the 

 groups of nesting British Birds, for which no guide was prepared. A. G. 



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