16 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



will be, amongst the birds, an illustrative series, the object of 

 which, without the exhibition of a bewildering number, will be 

 that of illustrating the principal forms, and, so far as possible, the 

 conditions under which they live, make their nests, and rear their 

 young ; while the reserve collection will contain as large a series 

 of unmounted skins as possible, such as will be useful to students. 

 Or, again, in the minerals and rocks, there will be a series illus- 

 trating the more important and typical forms, but in addition to 

 this there will be an extensive reserve collection for the purposes 

 of study. This plan of public and reserve collections will be 

 carried cut in regard to each group of objects. 



The entrance hall will, at present, be devoted to the exhibition 

 of the invertebrate objects, and to that of certain special cases 

 illustrating mimicry, &c. ; the floor of the main hall, into which 

 the former leads, will contain the general vertebrate collection, 

 which is now in course of arrangement, while the large gallery 

 running all round this will be utilized for the display of the 

 geological and mineralogical exhibits. 



In the old Museum the arrangement adopted was a geographi- 

 cal one — that is, a certain amount of space was allotted to each 

 of the continents, or to the larger divisions of these, and in this 

 space it was attempted to exhibit the animals inhabiting the 

 region. In regard to Australia it will be remembered that there 

 were cases representing the fauna of Tasmania, Victoria, New 

 South Wales, &c, while other cases contained European, North 

 American, Indian, African animals, &c. In the new Museum 

 the animals are being arranged, in the main, zoologically — that is, 

 for example, fishes will be classified and arranged together, all 

 the reptiles, birds, and mammals will be similarly arranged, irre- 

 spective of where they come from, and so on through the whole 

 series. Amongst the mammals the system of grouping is being 

 adopted to a considerable extent. The distribution of the animals 

 will be indicated by coloured maps, and by means of descriptive 

 labels attention will be drawn to the important points connected 

 both with special animals and groups. 



While typical examples of our Australasian fauna will find 

 their places in the zoological series, the large hall on the second 

 floor of the new block will be devoted exclusively to an Aus- 

 tralasian collection, and it is to the extension and completion 

 of this that special attention will be paid. Before long it is hoped 

 that large groups of some of our more characteristic Australian 

 animals, such as Kangaroos, Platypus, Lyre-birds, Black Swans, 

 &c, showing them in their natural surroundings, will be ready for 

 exhibition. In the extension of this local collection, which it is 

 intended to make the leading feature of the zoological part of the 

 Museum, the co-operation of members of the Field Naturalists' 

 Club will be most welcome and valuable. 



Baldwin Spencer. 



