FIELD AND FOREST. 67 



can be had at a shilling a pound. Cylindrical glass vessels are ob- 

 jectionable, not only on account of distortion, but because they ren- 

 der it difficult to demonstrate details of structure. Rectangular trays 

 with movable plate-glass lids are far more convenient. They may be 

 made of ebonite for the smaller sizes, and of wood lined with gutta- 

 percha where the cost of ebonite becomes important. I hope before 

 long to get a useful tray cast in glass. The edges must be accurately 

 ground, and the cover secured by light brass clamps. In the 

 bottom of the tray the wax can be securely fixed. It is useless to 

 cement the lid to the tray. Hardly any cement will stand prolonged' 

 exposure to dilute spirit, and it is necessary to readjust or clear the 

 dissection from time to time. 



Fossils are usually kept loose ; in the larger collections they are 

 mounted on tablets of wood or glass covered with paper. The first 

 method is untidy and often causes loss of labels; wooden tablets are 

 costly, difficult to cut of quite uniform size, and liable to warp; glass 

 is also difficult to cut true, and wastes much time in covering with 

 paper. Ten years ago I procured a supply of pasteboard tablets one- 

 tenth of an inch thick from a pattern-card maker, and have used them 

 exclusively since. They are cheap (ninepence to a shilling a 

 pound), can be cut perfectly true by machinery, do not warp, and 

 may be had of any color. Fossils glued to pasteboard with coaguline 

 are perfectly fast; we range them in wall-cases upon shelves sloped to 

 forty-five degrees, and never meet with accidents. 



In our geological wall-cases I have introduced above the level of 

 the eye a range of boards, nearly upright, but sloping slightly for- 

 wards at the top, upon which maps, sections, photographs, and de- 

 scriptive notices can be pinned. In a palseontological collection this 

 space is useful for drawings of restored animals. 



It is much to be desired that the dealers would procure a better 

 choice of zoological models in glass and porcelain. Reuss' foramini- 

 fera are still useful, though antiquated; Blaschka, of Dresden, keeps 

 no stock, though he has supplied many of our museums with useful 

 models in glass made from drawings. We want artistic and accurate 

 colored models of mollusca, hydrozoa, &c, far beyond the present 

 supply. 



Stuffed animals, especially stuffed mammalia, are the plague of a 



