150 Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. | November 
inside could hardly be seen, and yet for the same cost cases might 
have been built with five times the glass exposure had they been 
made of painted pine and placed against the wall as fronts sim- 
ply, the shelves being attached independently to the wall itself. 
Such cases may be constructed quite economically and are per- 
fectly satisfactory. It is well to have the cases nearly white in 
color and the room itself as light as possible so long as the blaz- 
ing sun light is avoided. 
The labelling of the specimens is a most important matter, 
for a collection without labels is of no use whatever. The labels 
should be amply descriptive, concisely expressed and distinctly 
written on one sort of paper or card, except for class or general 
labels, and, if possible, in one sort of hand writing or one style 
of printing. 
With the exception of such bulky specimens as wood, cones 
and other fruits, the botanical collection is best kept on shelves 
in tightly closed cupboards. All the dried plants should, of 
course, be poisoned and mounted on paper of the standard size, 
in order that one collection may be united with another if requir- 
ed in the future. The birds, to save expense, may, if numerous, 
be kept as skins in shallow drawers, only one set being stuffed 
and mounted for public exhibition. Eggs and nests should be 
placed with the species of birds to which they belong. The mam- 
mals must be stuffed and the fishes and reptiles likewise, if pos- 
sible, for specimens preserved in alcohol and other liquid prepa- 
rations are troublesome and quite expensive to maintain and only 
of service to students. They are almost useless for public exhi- 
bition because, aside from the distorting effect of the liquid, near- 
ly all lose their original color and change to a dirty white in a few 
years. The minerals and rocks on exhibition should be reason- 
ably large, characteristic specimens and there should not be so 
many of one sort as to be confusing. 
One of the most difficult collections to care for is the insect 
collection. Insects are the most numerous of all animals. The 
best results for the local museum are gained by collecting only 
the larger and more interesting insects, enlarging the scope of 
the collection from time to time. In this way the butterflies and 
