320 PRACTICAL TAXIDEEMY. 



and altliougli, of course, lacking tlie minute finisli of sucla 

 champions of case-making as Sage, yet, taking into con- 

 sideration tliat quite £300 was saved in the construction, we 

 may be fairly proud of our success. Regarding the classifi- 

 cation of the vertebrates, it was admitted on all hands that we 

 might take Huxley as our standpoint ; but I felt that, in 

 this age of specialists, we ought to be guided by those who, 

 taking the labours of the leading physiologists and men of 

 science for their groundwork, compiled, so to speak, from these 

 results, and being anatomists and men of great learning them- 

 selves, were generally accepted throughout the world as the 

 leading exponents of the branch of biology they represented. 

 Accordingly the plan was sketched out, and, selecting Professor 

 W. H. Flower, F.E-.S., the president of the College of Surgeons, 

 for the mammals; Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.E-.S., secretary of the 

 Zoological Society, for the birds; and Dr. A. C. Giinther,F.R.S., 

 chief of the British Museum, for the reptiles and fishes, I 

 submitted my plans to each gentleman, who did me the honour 

 to return them corrected where necessary. Since then I have 

 slightly modified where the latest views of these great men have 

 undergone some slight change ; and now the scheme of our 

 zoological room is as in the accompanying plan (see Plate). Of 

 course, for pui'poses of convenience and reference, a linear 

 arrangement has been adopted, but it will not be necessary 

 to point out that no actual linear arrangement can exist in 

 nature, the chain being broken, not only in links, but by large 

 portions being twisted off. Rather may we liken biology to a 

 tree whose branches ramify in many directions from the main 

 trunk of life. 



The classification — superseding the old, unscientific Yigorsian 

 and other systems, founded on external characteristics — being 

 decided on, the style of mounting of the specimens had to be 

 settled. The "peg" system was to be discarded; but here 

 occurred the most serious hitch of all. In accordance with 

 the plan now being pursued in many provincial museums, it 

 was wished by one party to elevate the local exhibits into 

 undue importance, at the expense of general zoology, by taking 

 up much more of the room at disposal than was practicable 

 or necessary. The suggestion was to furnish cases of a certain 



