708 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII. 
classification, and also in the manner of mounting the speci- 
mens, is that of palzontology. The arrangement is primarily 
zodlogical, and the completeness of the collection in certain 
departments, e.g., Cephalopoda and Hippuritide, is impressive. 
Most of the specimens are mounted on tablets of manila board, 
some being kept in place by pins and some by cement. Very 
small specimens are attached to cards, which are then inserted 
into glass specimen tubes or vials, where they may be readily 
examined without being handled, and without danger of loss. 
The table cases are high and narrow from front to back, and 
have flat tops. The glass tops are arranged so that the front 
and sides are lifted up when the case is opened, leaving the 
specimens exposed as if they were on the top of a table. It 
is claimed that this is convenient, and that it renders the cases 
more nearly dust-proof than the usual method of opening. A 
device that may be recommended to museums in which the 
storage drawers under the cases were not provided with sliding 
glass tops when they were built is in use here. It is to groove 
(rabbet) the upper edge of the drawer all around, so that a glass 
plate of the right size may be slipped in as a cover. Thumb 
holes should be provided in the rabbet on two sides of the 
drawer to facilitate the removal of the glass cover. 
London. The British Museum (Natural History).— A volume 
could be written about the methods of installation employed 
in different parts of this great institution. So many ideas 
have been tried here, and information on all points regarding 
desirable and undesirable methods of installation is so freely 
given by the officers in charge of the various departments, that 
_it is not too much to say that this is the most important place 
in Europe for a person to visit who desires to learn what to do 
and what to leave undone in a museum. I can mention within 
the limits of these “ Notes ” only a few of the more striking 
features of the departments studied. 
Paleontology. — Specimens are never crowded, much stress 
being laid upon the idea that it is better to have first-class 
specimens well displayed than it is to have all the material in 
the museum out on exhibition. Printed explanatory labels are 
full and numerous, and much use is made of drawings, diagrams, 
