197- 

 MUSEUM NEWS. 



From the Norwich Museum we have received its Report for 1908, with 

 list of additions, including many valuable archaeological and natural 

 history specimens ; and also the First Annual Report of the Norwich 

 Museum Association, founded 1907, under the auspices of the Norwich 

 Castle Museum Committee. This Association, with Mr. F. Leney as 

 Secretary, illustrates in an excellent way the practical use that may 

 be put to a museum and its contents, by popular lectures of interest to 

 agriculturalists, etc. 



We have recently received three excellent handbooks from the Bank- 

 field Museum, Halifax, written by the Hon. Curator, Mr. H. Ling Roth. 

 The first (No. 5, 45 pp., i/-) is entitled ' Trading in Early Days,' and is the 

 lecture delivered before the Halifax Scientific Society last September. 

 No. 6 (10 pp., one penny), deals with ' Hand Wool combing,' and No. 7 

 (20 pp., 2d.) is an account of ' Mocassins and their Quill Work,' and is 

 reprinted from the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. All 

 are well illustrated by drawings of specimens in the Bankfield Museum, 

 Mr. Roth is to be congratulated upon these valuable publications. 



Mr. S. L. Mosley, the Curator of the Keighley Museum, periodically 

 publishes pamphlets bearing upon objects in his collection. ' These Notes 

 are printed (i) As labels for the Museum ; (2) As Lesson-Notes supplied 

 to all the Borough Schools. Outsiders may have them sent post free by 

 .subscribing 5/- a year to the Museum.' No. 4 was issued in January, and 

 deals with ' The Rook.' It is illustrated by coloured plates of the Rook, 

 Cockchafer, Daddy-long-legs, Wireworm, etc. No. 5 deals with the Colts 

 foot, and also includes reviews of recent publications ; a note on the late 

 Beaumont Park Museum, the collections from which were offered by Mr. 

 Mosley to the Corporation, but were declined ; and some rare local birds. 

 In the last we notice ' Nutcracker — an error. A statement in Nelson's 

 " Birds of Yorkshire " that a bird of this kind was shot in Dungeon Wood, 

 and that I had it in the flesh is a mistake, and was inserted without my 

 knowledge. I never had such a bird, nor had my father.' Better paper 

 should be used for these notes. 



From the Lincoln Museum we have received six penny publications. 

 Nos. I and 2 deal with the Lincolnshire Keuper Escarpment and the 

 Pygmy Flint Age in Lincolnshire respectively, and are reprinted from the 

 Transactions of the Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union. These papers were 

 referred to in these columns when reviewing that publication some time 

 ago, so we will not refer to them more than to say they do not appear to 

 have much, if any, connection with the Lincoln Museum. On the other 

 hand, the two illustrated pamphlets on Roman Antiquities (Nos. 3 and 5) 

 by the Curator, Mr. A. Smith, are just of the type the visitor requires, 

 especially seeing that Lincoln is so comparatively rich in Roman remains. 

 From the illustrations given, we should hardly have expected the use of 

 the word ' graceful ' so frequently. No. 4 is the Report and General 

 Guide, which appears with one name on the cover, and two inside. In 

 this there is evidence of the Museum having many friends, and it is pleasing 

 to find that some specimens which had reached Lancashire have been 

 returned. It is a pity the people of Lincoln were not alive as to the im- 

 portance of these objects earlier ; the present collection would then have 

 been much richer. No. 6 deals with ' The Owls and Hawks of Lincoln- 

 shire,' by the Rev. F. L. Blathwayt, and makes special reference to the 

 collections in the museum. We learn that Nos. 2 and 3 of these publica- 

 tions are already out of print, which seems a pity. 



Whether there is any great monetary profit from the sales of these 

 various museum publications or not, there can be no doubt that they benefit 

 the respective museums, and the increasingly large number of institutions 

 issuing them is a good sign. 



1909 May I. 



