NOTES ON ZOOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS. 289 



Excellent popular guide-books to the collections, written by 

 Dr. 0. Jansen, have been lately published. 



The leading features of this museum are the large groups of 

 stuffed mammals and birds, which are well calculated to catch 

 the eye of the casual visitor and to excite his interest, so as to 

 lead him on to further enquiries about the animals he sees, and 

 so to spread popular knowledge of natural history amongst the 

 public. 



Unfortunately the majority of the specimens are not pro- 

 tected by glass, and, under the conditions in which the collection 

 is exhibited, it is to be feared that neither fur nor feather can be 

 preserved for many years. 



The entrance hall on the lower floor contains two large 

 groups illustrating very different sides of the European fauna, 

 one the coasts of the North Sea and one the high mountains of 

 South Europe. In this hall there are also microscopes arranged 

 on tables for the use of visitors (a feature I also noticed in the 

 Brighton Aquarium), and the preserved skins of various large 

 animals that have formerly lived in the Cologne Zoological 

 Gardens. 



The main hall on this floor is devoted to general and local 

 series of mammals and birds. The fine family groups of all the 

 principal European mammals, from Red Deer, Wild Swine, and 

 Bear to the smaller Carnivora and Rodents, should be specially 

 mentioned, and also a less complete series of European birds 

 mounted in their natural surroundings. There is also a series 

 of nearly three hundred pairs of horns and antlers, collected by 

 the late Dr. Hermann von Wissmann (1853-1905), formerly 

 Governor of German East Africa. 



On the upper floor, the chief attraction is the large collection 

 of stuffed mammals and birds made in East Africa by Herr 

 Bernhard Kreuser in 1906, and mounted in Cologne during 

 1907 and 1908. 



Mention must also be made of the method employed in this 

 Museum of exhibiting those species of fish which are of local 

 interest. Stuffed specimens, mounted amongst suitable sur- 

 roundings, are shown in five large glass cases, under the 

 following divisions: — 1. Pond fish. 2. Brook fish. 3. Rhine 

 fish, stationary. 4. Rhine fish, migratory. 5. North Sea food 



