ON THE PKOYINCIAL MUSEUMS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 123 



the male and female, the young in several stages, the nest and eggs, set 

 up with their natural surroundings of plants, stones, water, &c., the nest 

 in its natural position, the birds in the usual attitudes of active life, 

 feeding, building, &c., teaches more than can be learnt from books or 

 even from the casual observation of nature. This fact is now beginning 

 to be recognised, and many museums ai'e making small attempts in this 

 direction. But it is a slow and costly process to reconstruct a collection 

 which has been formed on the old-fashioned plan. At Leicester this has 

 been done, however, to some extent, and a striking efPect is produced. 

 But as the object in this case was rather to attract than to teach, the 

 result is disajDpointing. An attempt has been made to illustrate the 

 vertebrate fauna of the whole world in a range of wall-cases scarcely 200 

 feet long, and this is done simply by setting up single specimens of a few 

 forms in each order with pictorial surroundings. The scenery is cleverly 

 constructed, and shows some of the habits of a few species. It is 

 unfortunate that it was not started on a better principle. A less 

 ambitious attempt more thoroughly worked out would be far more 

 valuable. A collection of local birds is now being got together at 

 Leicester, and a somewhat better system is adopted. A family group of 

 each species is represented, but at present the great teaching value of 

 comparison is ignored. At the Natural History Museum at South 

 Kensington the same mistake is made. Family groups excellently set 

 up in separate cases are placed at a distance from each other and from 

 all related forms. They would teach more if they were less isolated, and 

 if there were single specimens of foreign allied types close at hand for 

 comparison. The value of this system is strongly urged by the curator 

 at Exeter. Mr. Moore, of- Liverpool, was probably the first to adopt the 

 pictorial family group arrangement. 



15. Condition of Specimens. — The most perishable contents of a 

 museum are its specimens of natural history. Unless they have been 

 well cured and are carefully excluded from damp, from infection, and 

 from too much direct sunlight, they will rapidly deteriorate. About 100 

 museums repoi't their natural history collections as in good condition ; in 

 about 25 they require more or less renewal. The cleaning of stuffed 

 specimens which have become dirty is a process requiring care and know- 

 ledge. Many are spoilt by well-meant but ignorant attempts. 



16 and 17. Arrangement. — In all good natural history collections there 

 will be, in addition to the stuffed vertebrates, a number of skeletons and 

 of specimens preserved in bottles. About thirty museums report that 

 the skeletons and bottles are grouped with the stuffed specimens, in about 

 forty-five they are kept separately. In some no regular system is adopted, 

 in others the skeletons and bottles are too few to be considered. 



The usual system of arranging fossils is to group them stratigraphi- 

 cally in the first instance, and zoologically within the stratigraphical 

 groups. About a dozen museums, not of the lowest class, report that their 

 fossils are not arranged at all. 



A phylogenetic arrangement of organic forms is advocated by some 

 authorities. Professor Herdman, of Liverpool, has elaborated a plan for 

 such a collection, but it has not yet been carried out. 



In furnishing a new museum it is wise to determine upon a scheme, 

 to provide cases sufficient to carry this out, to place all specimens in their 

 permanent places, and to fill up the blanks gradually. 



18, 19. Local Collections. — About one-half of the provincial museums 



