^42 



PRACTICAL TAXIDEE]\rr. 



The scliedule, of wliicli an example follows, is printed in large 

 type, and is attached conspicuously to the drawer : 



GROUP 222. 



Sub-Kingdom 



. . Annulosa . . 



. Skeleton external, ringed. 



Province . . 



. . Arthropoda . . 



. Limbs jointed. 



Class . . . . 



.. Insecta ,. ., 



. Legs, six. 



Sub-Class .. 



. . Metabola 



. Transformations complete. 



Order .. .. 



. . Lepidoptera . . 



. Wings with scales. 



Sub-Order.. 



.. Rhopalocera . . 



, Horns clubbed at the apex. 



Family . . . . 



. . Papilionidce 



. Middle nerve of fore-wing four- 

 branched. 



The whole " Synopsis," published at a shilling, by the autho- 

 rities of the Liverpool Museum, is well worth reading. It contains 

 a store of information, not the least interesting being the Greek 

 and Latin derivations of the scientific names. I am especially 

 glad to see that the Greek characters are not barbarously 

 replaced by English " equivalents," which nearly always fail to 

 give the key to the roots.* The cases themselves are excellently 

 adapted to show the specimens, and the plan — if we except the 

 division labelled "British," which might be advantageously 

 altered, I think, to "Animals belonging to the above group 

 (&c.), found also in Britain" — is admirable. Not only are 

 objects dried, mounted, or shown in spirits, but first-class 

 coloured drawings of such creatures as Medusae, &c., are pro- 

 vided. This is, I am sure, a step in the right direction, and I so 

 recognise the importance of this, that I am preparing charts 

 of parts, &c., of animals as keys to their structure, and also 

 enlarging minute forms under the microscope, to be placed in 

 position in the invertebrate cases for the Leicester Museum. 



Another very fine feature of the Liverpool Museum, and 

 worthy of imitation, is the manner in which the osteological 

 preparations are managed. Not only are complete skeletons 

 of mammals shown, but parts for comparison — that is to say, 

 there is a large series of skulls of various mammals, birds, 

 reptiles, and fishes, and, again, leg and arm bones, and their 

 parts, arranged side by side; hence you may compare the 

 fore-limb of the human subject with that of a m.onkey, a lion, a 



* I noticed " Ocnai gunaike " written in a scientific work lately, and I thought I never saw 

 a sentence so ugly and so unlike what it would be if written in Greek characters or properly 

 pronounced. 



