Apkil 17, 1896 ] 



SCIENCE. 



575 



ducing extinct forms in a collection is shown 

 by the great gap now existing between birds 

 and reptiles, a gap which the Dinosaurs 

 and Archseopteryx will bridge over and by 

 their presence make clear the affinities of 

 these two great classes. E'ow a mere placing 

 of fossils in their proper places will not do 

 this, for the average fossil, crushed, muti- 

 lated, distorted, means very little to the 

 average visitor. To do the thing properly 

 we should have a complete and, preferablj^, 

 a full-sized restoration of the extinct species, 

 but this, the ideal method, is for many 

 reasons far in the future ; the complete struc- 

 ture of the majoi'ity of forms is unknown, 

 while the cost of the knowledge and skill 

 necessary for making such restorations 

 puts a prohibitory tariif on their manu- 

 facture. Meanwhile the best that can be 

 done is to supply their places with good 

 figures,* but when this is done the draw- 

 ings should be supplemented by speci- 

 mens of casts of fossils to show the ma- 

 terial on which the restorations are based 

 and, which is almost as important, to give 

 an idea of the size of the creature fig- 

 ured. Moreover, these specimens are needed 

 as a guarantee to a somewhat suspicious 

 public that the animals did actually exist. 

 "With the aid of these models, figures and 

 specimens, supplemented by, or supple- 

 mentary to, good labels, the relations of ex- 

 isting forms may be made plain and the 

 exhibition series symmetrical. 



A paleontological series then should be 

 complementary to that of recent animals ; 

 the bulk of it should be by itself and ar- 

 ranged geologically, but, as fast as opportu- 

 nity offers, the gaps between existing groups 

 should be filled, so that, aided by the labels, 

 the visitor may see that the relation be- 

 tween existing forms depends in many cases 

 on species long ago blotted out of existence. 



* Just how to introduce these drawings in the exhi- 

 bition series is a problem which I have incubated for 

 two years or more without hatching a good solution. 



Such a series should not be too large, for 

 its object is to show clearly the principal 

 modifications of vertebrate structure, and 

 the display of too many forms tends only to 

 confuse the visitor, or general student, for 

 whom such a series is intended. It may, 

 perhaps, be an open question as to just 

 what ' too large ' means. In my own case 

 it means that I would not go beyond the 

 representation of families, although where 

 there is much diversity of form within a 

 family more than one species may be intro- 

 duced to advantage. And when all fami- 

 lies, living and extinct, have been properly 

 represented, the series will be of no mean 

 proportions. 



Fredeeic a. Lucas. 

 Washington, D. C. 



This paper was written some time before 

 the appearance of Sir Henry Howorth's 

 article on Paleontological Museums in the 

 February number of Natural Science, and his 

 ideas as to the value of certain material 

 lead me to add as a postscript some sentences 

 striken out of the rough draft of my own 

 article. 



The questions arise as to whether it is 

 worth while to exhibit many of the verte- 

 brate fossils seen in museums and if they 

 do not occupy space which might be used 

 to better advantage. Much of the material 

 shown, single teeth, fragments of bones, 

 odd vertebrte and broken skulls, while, 

 valuable enough to the paleontologist, are 

 as caviare to the public. Even to the aver- 

 age student they are of little value unless 

 he can handle them, and, while a certain 

 amount of material is needed to impress 

 upon the public the number and variety of 

 the animals which have passed away, all 

 beyond that simply tends to confuse rather 

 than to instruct. And personally I am 

 of the opinion that many of the objects 

 ordinarily seen on exhibition might ad- 

 vantageously be relegated to the study 

 series. F. A. L. 



