CHAPTER XII 

 WORK FOR THE WINTER HOLIDAYS 



! MOUNTING SPECIMENS AS RECORDS OF NATURE-STUDY WORK- 

 NOTES ON ANIMALS STILL ACTIVE ROCKS AND FOSSILS 



MOUNTING SPECIMENS 



The long winter evenings provide a time when much material 

 obtained during the year may be arranged in suitable coverings so 

 as to be of more or less permanent value. The specimens chosen 

 may serve either as an interesting record of nature-study which has 

 been carried out, or the gaps in the series will remind one of 

 what still remains to be done. 



For objects that are dry, nothing is better than the glass-topped 

 boxes already mentioned in connection with fruits ; and it may 

 not be amiss to point out one or two of their advantages. In the 

 first place, each specimen is kept quite separate from the others, 

 as well as comparatively free from dust and injury, while its labels 

 cannot very easily be lost. As the boxes are made to the same 

 gauge, one can always introduce a new specimen into the series 

 forthwith, without disturbing the contents of any other. The possi- 

 bilities for display are obvious, and for teaching purposes the ad- 

 vantages of being able to hand round any one specimen in safety, 

 are very great. A simple device, to wit, two small shelves, the 

 lower one with a ledge on its upper side and the other with a ledge 

 beneath it, enables a row of boxes to be fixed to the wall, and the 



118 



