LIFE IN LONDON 405 



colours, strange forms, and exquisite texture that could hardly 

 be surpassed ; and when to these were added the most curious 

 and beautiful among the warblers, flycatchers, drongos, star- 

 lings, gapers, ground thrushes, woodpeckers, barbets, cuckoos, 

 trogons, kingfishers, hornbills, and pheasants, the general 

 effect of the whole, and the impression it gave of the 

 inexhaustible variety and beauty of nature in her richest 

 treasure houses, was far superior to that of any collection of 

 stuffed and mounted birds I have ever seen. 



This mode of exhibiting bird skins is especially suitable 

 for artificial light, and I believe that if a portion of the 

 enormous wealth of the national collection in unmounted 

 bird skins were used for evening display in the public gal- 

 leries, it would be exceedingly attractive. Different regions or 

 subregions might be illustrated by showing specimens of all 

 the most distinct and remarkable species that characterize 

 them, and each month during the winter a fresh series might 

 be shown, and thus all parts of the world in turn represented. 

 And in the case of insects the permanent series shown in the 

 public galleries might be thus arranged, those of each region or 

 of the well-marked subregions being kept quite separate. This 

 would be not only more instructive, but very much more inter- 

 esting, because such large numbers of persons have now visited 

 or resided in various foreign countries, and a still larger num- 

 ber have friends or relatives living abroad, and all these would 

 be especially interested in seeing the butterflies, beetles, and 

 birds which are found there. In this way it would be pos- 

 sible to supply the great want in all public museums — a geo- 

 graphical rather than a purely systematic arrangement for the 

 bulk of the collections exhibited to the public. The syste- 

 matic portion so exhibited might be limited to the most dis- 

 tinctive types of organization, and these might be given in a 

 moderate sized room. 



Having thus prepared the way by these preliminary studies, 

 I devoted the larger portion of my time in the years 1867 and 

 1868 to writing my "Malay Archipelago." I had previously 

 read what works I could procure on the islands, and had 



