102 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, X1I1. 
“ right hard personal work by which all solid lasting knowledge must be gained. 
“ The value of making a collection of any kind of specimens about which you 
“ wish to know something is that you are forced to spend time and thought 
“over them, carefully to prepare them and compare them, to arrange and 
“ name them,” . 
Then again a collection is of special value in that it forms a permanent 
record—if properly cared for—of a portion of the knowledge acquired in the 
making of it, and further than that, it is more than anything else a means of 
encouraging its owner to extend the permanence of that record of his know- 
ledge by written notes, either on the labels of his specimens, or in a separate 
note-book, which he will probably be able to publish in some form for the 
benefit of his fellow-workers, whereas they would otherwise in all likelihood 
have been trusted to the tender mercies of his memory alone. Wonderful as 
the human mind may be, it can never be thoroughly relied upon to reproduce 
_ its recollections in their identically original form, and absolute accuracy of 
facts is one thing that science insists on, though unfortunately in only too 
many instances it fails to secure it, The very great importance of facts record- 
ed on the spot cannot be exaggerated, for they are in many ways of more value 
to science than all the rich stores of the most retentive memory, and as a proof 
and illustration of recorded facts there is nothing so useful as a collection. 
The question of what to collect will possibly present itself in many instances 
to those to whom this is addressed and who may be willing to assist in a prac-. 
tical way the work of the Society. This of course can only be decided by 
personal inclination and surrounding circumstances ; but, as I said before, it is 
with a view to helping members to come to a decision on this point that I 
have attempted this paper, by putting directly before them in a handy form 
a few facts of the present state of our knowledge under the different heads 
with which the work of the Society is connected, followed in each instance by 
a few simple and practical instructions as to the preparation and preservation 
of specimens in their most useful form, 
~ In doing so I have had recourse to the advice contained in the most recent 
and authoritative publications to which access could be had, but of far more 
importance than anything that any book can teach, has been the personal 
assistance and advice of Messrs, E, H. Aitken, HE, L. Bartonand H.M, Phipson, 
without whose aid—gained by practical experiences in the field and in the 
Society's Museum—I could never have carried through, nor would I ever have 
attempted, the task that I set myself. 
CLASS MAMMALIA, 
The first class to which we must direct our attention is that of the Mammals, 
they being of course the most highly developed and conspicuous of all 
vertebrate animals, 
They can for our present purpose be most conveniently divided into two 
sections, viz,: the large and the small Mammals : for, as far as the preparation 
