80 REPORT— 1864. 



family of Tortoises, anotlier the principal forms of Saurians, &c. They exdted 

 much interest, and some cases were purchased by our College of Sm-geons. 



In some of the Continental museums also I have observed the same plan adopted 

 to a limited extent. 



I now exhibit a case of insects, received from Germany, in which what I have 

 suggested is fully carried out. You wiU perceive that in one small case are exhi- 

 bited simultaneously, and visible at a glance, the egg, the larva, the plant on 

 which it feeds, the pupa, and the perfect moth, together with its varieties, and the 

 parasites by which the caterpillar is infested. Such cases, representing the entire 

 life and habits of all the best-known and most interesting of our native insects, 

 would be, as I conceive, far more attractive and instructive to the public at large 

 than the exhibition of any conceivable number of rows of allied or cognate species, 

 having no interest whatever except for the advanced zoological student. 



I will only add that I am perfectly satisfied, fi-oni observation and experience, 

 and tliat I believe the opinion is rapidly gaining ground, that the scientific student 

 would find a collection solely devoted to the object of study, and preserved iu 

 boxes and drawers, far more useful and available for scientific purposes than the 

 stuffed specimens as at present arranged in galleries of immense extent, and crowded 

 with curious and bewildered spectators ; while, on the other hand, the general 

 public woidd infinitely better understand, and consequently more justly appreciate, 

 a well-chosen and well-exhibited selection of a limited number of specimens, 

 carefully arranged to exhibit special objects of general interest, and to afford a 

 complete series for elementary instruction, than miles of glass cases containing' 

 thousands upon thousands of specimens, all exhibited in a uniform manner, and 

 placed like soldiers at a review. 



The plan has the advantage of being as applicable to a very large as to a small 

 local collection, for a few well-selected cases of animals of any parish or district 

 will teach what they have been prepared to illustrate, and the addition of every 

 well-selected series of specimens will extend the usefulness of the institution, and 

 the better the animals are known to the visitor, the more is the interest they will 

 take in the exhibition. 



Specimens are much less liable to injuiy (and this is a great consideration in a 

 small institution, where onlj' a single curator, often an impaid amateur, is employed) 

 if they are kept in small well-closed cases, properly pasted up, than if they are 

 kept in large cases that open, where the air changes with every change of tempe- 

 rature ; for the air is expelled when the cases are warm, and it rushes in again, 

 charged with dust and destructive gases, when the air within is cold and contracted. 



I now turn to a veiy different subject — one which has alwa3's occupied a consi- 

 derable share of my attention, and on which a few observations may not be out of 

 Elace on this occasion — viz. the acclimatization of animals. This subject, which 

 as been a favourite one with the more thoughtful student, appears all at once to 

 have become popular ; and several associations have been formed for the especial 

 piu^pose of its promotion, not only iu this country, but also on the Continent and 

 m the Australian colonies. 



I may observe that the acclimatization of animals, and especially the introduction 

 and cultivation of fish, was among the peculiar objects put forward by the Zoolo- 

 gical Society at the time of its foundation, nearly forty years ago — although, as we 

 all know, it has been able to do very little for its promotion. 



It would appear, from observations that are occasionally to be met with in the 

 public papers and in other journals, to be a prevalent opinion among the patrons of 

 some of these associations that scientific zoologists are opposed to their views, or, 

 at least, lukewarm on the subject. But I am convinced tliat they are totally mis- 

 taken in such a notion, and that it can only have originated in the expression of a 

 belief, founded on experience, that some of the schemes of the would-be acclima- 

 tizers are incapable of being carried out, and would never have been suggested if 

 their promoters had been better acquainted with the habits and manners of the 

 animals on which the experiments are proposed to be made. 



The term acclimatization has been employed in several widely different senses :— 

 1st, as indicating the domestication of animals now only known in the wild state ; 

 2ndly, to express the introcbiction of the domesticated animals of one country into 



