288 REPORT ON MUSEUM WORK 



The collections, especially those of local fossils, have been 

 studied during the year by several specialists, among them 

 two of the leading authorities in paleobotany, Dr. Jongmans, 

 of Leiden, and Dr. Robert Kidston of Stirling.. Dr. Jongmans 

 did us a good service in looking through our large stock of 

 calamites and pointing out which were the more important 

 specimens and which could safely be thrown away. Dr. 

 Kidston has been examining some of the type specimens of 

 Lindley and Hutton's " Fossil Flora," and has returned them 

 with valuable notes on their modern nomenclature. Mr. D. 

 M. S. Watson, of London, has continued the work he began 

 last year upon the local Coal Measure amphibians. Few 

 people in Newcastle, even among members of the Society, 

 are aware of the scientific value of parts of our collections, 

 and it may therefore be worth while to repeat Mr. Watson's 

 statement that our series of these Coal Measure amphibian 

 remains, which are of the highest interest from the light they 

 throw on the evolution of the vertebrates, is the most 

 valuable and extensive possessed by any museum in the 

 world. 



The low average attendance at my "museum talks" is 

 probably due in part to the choice of subjects and the fact 

 that in several cases talks with the same titles had been given 

 before. The largest audiences are always drawn by subjects 

 connected with birds. I am thinking of giving the talks in 

 future rather more of the character of a series. Another 

 somewhat disappointing feature of the year has been the 

 abandonment of the regular system on which the school 

 classes were receiving lessons in the museum last year. No 

 doubt it was difficult to fit the lessons into an overcrowded 

 curriculum, but I am afraid the visits as they are being con- 

 ducted now, with very large classes straying round the 

 museum as they like and without the possibility of a definite 

 lesson, are not of much educational value to the children. 

 Perhaps one of the best ways in which a museum can serve 

 the schools is to send out travelling cases of selected objects 

 accompanied by leaflets for the teachers' use, and if our, time 



