8 REPORT ON Museum woRiC 



CURATOR'S REPORT ON MUSEU-M WORK 

 1906-1907 



The museum work of the 3'ear can be described most 

 conveniently under the headings of the departments in which 

 it has been done. In the zoology room, the re-labelling of the 

 mammals, mentioned in the last report as being in hand, has 

 been completed, and has produced a marked improvement, 

 furthered also by some re-arrangement of the specimens them- 

 selves. Some more work upon the shell collection has very 

 kindly been done by Miss Lebour; during the winter she 

 carried out a particularly valuable piece of work in sorting 

 through all tlie shells in the store-cupboards. We are now 

 engaged upon the corals. Of these the Society possesses a 

 good collection presented in 1*^37 by the Earl of Tankerville, 

 but it has long been dirty and always been poorly shown. 

 We have now cleaned the corals, and are re-installing them 

 in the same cases, but on a totally different system. The 

 essential of the new plan is the use of sloping shelves of 

 unpolished plate-glass. This was tried as an experiment, and 

 was found to be a very good means of adapting an unsuitable 

 case to the purpose of exhibiting corals, as the glass allows 

 enough light to' reach all parts, while at the same time itself 

 helping to provide a background against which the beautiful 

 forms of the corals are pleasingly thrown up. 



A good deal of work has also been done in the bird room. 

 The cleaning and painting of the cases in tlie Hancock 

 collection was finished during the year, and the change for 

 the better which it has produced is so striking that a number 

 of visitors, not understanding how it has been brought about, 

 have thought the birds themselves had been in some way 

 renovated. Several fresh birds, including a swan, have been 

 mounted by us and added to the collection ; a case of birds in 

 albino and other abnormal states of plumage has been fitted 

 up, and a number of foreign birds have been identified from 

 the British Museum catalogue. The birds from the late Mr. 

 Thompson's collection are shown all together for the present at 



