Correspondence — Mr. T. M. Sail. 525 



part of the shore called " The Park." It had been described to me 

 as a petrified piece of wood from the submarine forest, which occurs 

 along the coast ; and my curiosity was raised, knowing that such 

 wood was never petrified. I think the story was true, and certainly 

 not improbable, because there can be little doubt that the numerous 

 glacial erratics of that coast have travelled up the Channel from the 

 direction of the Channel Islands. And it is quite likely that a block 

 of silicified wood from Portland, almost as indestructible as any 

 igneous rock among them, may have come in the same manner and 

 from the same direction. The block was eighteen inches long and 

 ten inches in diameter. 



Harlton, Cambridge. 0. FlSHEK. 



LOCAL MUSEUMS. 



SiK, — I am glad to see in your October number a letter from 

 F. G. S. advocating the formation of local museums. Nothing could 

 prove a greater assistance to the student in any branch of Natural 

 History than to find in each town a series of specimens arranged so 

 as to show the various products of the neighbourhood ; but the chief 

 difficulty which stands in the way of provincial museums is the un- 

 certainty of their tenure. There is usually no dearth of specimens 

 flowing in from all quarters when once a museum is set on foot, 

 but money must also be forthcoming for cases ; rent has probably to 

 be paid for a room to contain them, and somebody must necessarily 

 be employed to look after the room, keep the cases dusted, and un- 

 lock the door for visitors. Under these conditions, it will, unfor- 

 tunately, too often be found that local ardour becomes cooled, the 

 sixpence or shilling from the stray visitor will very speedily be in- 

 sufficient to pay for the dusting, the room is closed, and the neglected 

 contents are either dispersed or thrown aside as useless lumber. 



In a little work entitled " Hints on Local Museums, by the 

 Treasurer of the Wimbledon Museum Committee," ^ as well as in a 

 paper published in Chambers's Journal ^ on provincial museums, . 

 F. G. S. will find some most valuable suggestions for their esta- 

 blishment and arrangement ; but, at the same time, it is as well to 

 bear in mind that in default of local collections, a great deal of good 

 can be done by means of local catalogues. Let each member of a 

 Naturalists' Club undertake whatever branch of Natural History he is 

 best acquainted with, and compile a list of the species occurring in 

 his own neighbourhood, — one might catalogue the fossils, giving the^ 

 names of characteristic species found in each quarry ; another might 

 devote himself to the minerals, and others would take in hand the 

 Botanical and Zoological departments. Thus, by a well-organized 

 division of labour, an immense amount of valuable information would 

 be accumulated, and the result would be a record of the distribution 

 of species throughout the country, more lasting perhaps, though less 

 attractive, than that afforded by many a local museum. 



PiLTON, Barnstaple, October 10, 1871. ToWNSHEND M. Hall. 



1 E. Hardwicke, London. Price Is. 2 _A.pril 7, 1866. 



