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1905 | ON THE ForMATION OF LocaL COLLECTIONS. 151 
the larger moths, the dragon flies, conspicuous beetles and some 
other groups may be collected and arranged in tight glass-topped 
boxes of the same size. The various stages in the developement 
of the insect should always be shown if possible by carefully pre- 
pared specimens. A very attractive way of exhibiting the butter- 
flies and larger moths has recently been adopted in some mu- 
seums and in many private collections where each specimen is 
mounted separately on a white tablet covered with glass, but this 
‘IS a very expensive method when applied to large collections. 
The insect collection may easily occupy the entire time and atten- 
tion of one person and the local society is fortunate if it counts 
an amateur entomologist among its members. 
The museum should always be opened at regular hours on 
designated days. Nothing is more exasperating to the visitor 
than to find the doors closed against him after taking much 
trouble to go, perhaps a long distance, to see the collections, or 
to be told by a sign, or some person near by, to call at Mr. So- 
andso’s, half a mile off, to get the key. 
It is hardly necessary here to go farther into details of the 
arrangement of the museum, except to say that the local collec- 
tion should contain, so far as possible, a specimen of every native 
species of rock, plant, animal, etc., together with a typical col- 
lection illustrating the pre-historic remains of the aboriginal race 
of the region. Photographic and other illustrations interspersed 
among the specimens add greatly to the interest and educational 
value of the collection. 
From the minerals and rocks, which may be considered the 
foundation of the collection, it is an easy advance through the 
plants, and animals, to the handi-work of aboriginal man and 
thence to our own early historic period and the present time; so 
that, one finds a perfectly natural sequence of objects from the 
native rock to the musket our great grandfather carried at the 
battle of Bunker Hill, and the difficulty of combining natural 
history collections with those of the local historical society van- 
ishes. With care this combination may be made in an absolutely 
scientific manner. 
One of the greatest difficulties in conducting a museum is 
