700 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL XXXII. 
cases, and is provided with many brief explanatory labels in 
addition to the individual label accompanying each specimen. 
Such phenomena as the effect produced on adjoining rocks by 
the heat of the igneous rocks when erupted or injected are fully 
illustrated by large, handsome specimens which have been very 
carefully collected and prepared for exhibition. The cases in 
this department also have wooden frames. The catalogue of 
each of these departments is in book form, and although a 
general catalogue has not yet been prepared, each specimen 
bears an accession number of such a kind that its exact location 
in the collection or in the storage drawers can be told at a 
glance. 
Paleontological Collections. —The remains of animals and 
plants are in separate rooms. The collection of fossil animals 
is merely synoptic, only fine specimens being on exhibition, 
and includes vertebrates and invertebrates in one series, the 
arrangement being zodlogical. The hall is badly lighted, which 
greatly impairs the effect of the wonderful assemblage of fossil 
reptiles. Upright and table cases are used for the small and 
the particularly valuable specimens, but most of the large rep- 
tiles are displayed without any covering, except that some of 
them have a wire netting over them. The collection of fossil 
plants is in a well-lighted room. The specimens are very fine, 
and show that a collection illustrating palaobotany may be made 
attractive as well as instructive. A noteworthy feature of this 
room is a series of transparent sections of plants, mounted 
between glass plates and suspended in front of the windows, 
where one may readily examine them. This arrangement is not 
confined to the Berlin museum, however, and may be adapted 
to several classes of objects, e.g., agates and corals. 
Invertebrate Zoölogy. — The hall of invertebrate zodlogy 1s 
cased with iron-framed upright cases, which are about seven feet 
high and so arranged as to divide the room into alcoves. While 
a great amount of well-lighted exhibition space is thus obtained, 
the architectural effect of a large hall is lost by the arrange- 
ment. A new and very effective feature is a series of rectangu- 
lar jars containing illustrative life groups in alcohol. Some of 
the groups represented are oysters and their surroundings, 
