7O2 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [NOL XXXII. 
university buildings. They are primarily educational in purpose 
and are systematically arranged. They contain many fine speci- 
mens, among which may be mentioned a grand fossil palm from 
the Vincenza beds, near Verona, a volcanic “ bomb,” eighteen 
or twenty inches in diameter, from the crater rim of Vulcano, 
one of the A®olian islands, and a leucite crystal, nearly four 
inches in diameter, from Rocca Monfino. Flat-topped table 
cases with wooden frames are used in the geological rooms; in 
the mineralogical rooms such cases are supplemented by upright 
cases, in which, as so often happens, the upper shelves are far 
too high for utility. The specimens in the geological rooms 
are displayed in pasteboard trays, unless they are too large for 
this method of installation, while those in the mineralogical 
collection are mounted for the most part on wooden blocks. 
The Vesuvian collection of the celebrated mineralogist, Prof. 
C. Scacchi, is preserved in a separate room, to the detriment 
of the main collection. Such separate collections are the bane 
of a museum, interfering as they do with the uniform arrange- 
ment of the collection on a systematic plan. 
Geneva.— The university at Geneva possesses a good museum 
of natural history in a well-lighted wing of its main building. 
The departments of geology, mineralogy, conchology, and 
invertebrate zodlogy, are the best. The rock collection is 
comprehensive, as one would expect it to be on the borders of 
the Alps. The hand specimens are displayed in white wooden 
trays with projecting bases for the labels. The effect is rather 
clumsy on account of the thickness of the edges of the trays. 
The de Saussure collection of quartz crystals from the Alps is 
famous and contains many fine specimens, but it is not well 
displayed, and poor installation detracts from any collection, no 
matter how beautiful the specimens may be. The Delessert 
collection of recent molluscs is here, containing many of 
Lamarck’s types, but the types are not distinguished by means 
of a noticeable mark, as such important specimens should be. 
The shells are gummed to cards, a practice which is objection- 
able on account of the danger of fracture when the shell must 
be removed from the case for any purpose. The source from 
which the specimen has come to the museum is indicated by a 
