70 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 103. 



of marine invertebrates to an almost unrivalled 

 perfection. Case after case, all splendidly 

 lighted, of rare and brilliant shells from every 

 part of the world, vie with one another in 



attractiveness; while 

 a magnificent series 

 of crabs, sea-ur- 

 chins, star-fishes, 

 worms, corals, cor- 

 allines, hydroids, 

 and sponges, illus- 

 trates the classifica- 

 tion, and exhibits the 

 vast variety, of more 

 lowly life along- 

 shore and on the 

 bottom of the deep 

 sea. 



In no room does 

 the casual visitor lin- 

 ger longer than in 

 this one ; while its 

 contents are unusu- 

 ally interesting to 

 specialists, because 

 of the large propor- 

 tion of type-speci- 

 mens included. In 

 many instances these 

 are unique ; as, for 

 example, some of 

 those beautiful or- 

 ange and scarlet gor- 

 gonias or ' sea-fans,' 

 — flat, branchless, 

 moss}" growths of 

 calcareous matter, 

 which resemble great 

 masses of pressed 

 seaweed. One case 

 is wholly filled with 

 these corallines ; and it is doubtful whether any 

 museum in the world can make a better show- 

 ing of them. 



The corals, also, are very fine, embracing 

 man}' rare and even unique forms, as might be 

 expected, remembering Prof. J. D. Dana's 

 labors in that direction ; so that only the Mu- 

 seum of comparative zoology equals this part 

 of the cabinet. 



In the way of deep-sea forms of crustaceans, 

 and echinoderms also, a great number of novel 

 species are publicly displayed, which were 

 procured in recent dredgings by the fish- com- 

 mission. Among them stand large jars hold- 

 ing alcoholic remains of the giant cuttlefishes 

 upon which Verrill has written so many learned 

 pages ; and overhead hang Emerton's paper 



Fig. 4. — Bird's egg glued to 

 a strip of ground glass 

 standing upright in a 

 wooden block. 



(To make the attachment stron- 

 ger, a leather ring is first glued 

 to the glass, as seen in the fig- 

 ure on the lower part of the 

 strip; and to this the egg is 

 fastened.) 



models of Architeuthis and a huge Octopus, 

 which half the visitors take to be real devil- 

 fishes stuffed, and gaze at with fearful curiosity. 

 The system of mounting dry objects of small 

 size, adopted here, is perfect. It consists in 

 using a small standard of wire set in a block 

 of wood sufficiently firm to stand upright with 

 securit} 7 , upon the top of which (that is, on the 

 tip of the wire) the specimen is fixed in any 

 attitude desired by means of a bit of leather or 

 cork glued to it at some inconspicuous point 

 (see figs. 4-7). 



In the case of shells, this produces a singu- 

 larly handsome effect. They are poised up- 

 right, and can be viewed from all sides without 

 handling, while the label attached to the foot- 

 block is neither hidden by the object, nor hides 

 it. The wires, often requiring much ingenious 

 twisting and looping to adapt them to the needs 

 of the irregular specimens and positions, are 

 of brass ; but, after each piece has been bent 

 into the proper shape, it is silver-plated. The 

 crabs are mounted in an equally attractive and 

 accurate manner, these brittle and otherwise 

 difficult preparations being treated by a com- 

 bination of the method described above, with 

 the twisted-wire arrange- 

 ment familiar to osteolo- 

 gists. Upright tablets of 

 ground or colored glass, to 

 which specimens are glued, 

 are also made use of for 

 many objects. Here, too, 

 as in the vertebrate hall, 

 there is a synoptical col- 

 lection of the invertebrates 

 of New England, instruc- 

 tively epitomizing the local 

 fauna. 



The remaining rooms on 

 this floor are occupied as 

 laboratories or lecture- 

 rooms by Professors Ver- 

 rill and Smith of the Shef- 

 field scientific school. 



The fourth stor} r con- 

 tains storerooms filled with 

 fossils ; a collection (on 

 exhibition) of about two 

 thousand antiquities of 

 great value from Central 

 America ; and a fair show 

 of archeological relics, the 

 most notable part of which 

 is the pottery from the mounds of the Ohio 

 valley. 



But the glory of the Yale museum is its pale- 

 ontological treasures, brought together wholly 



Fig. 5.— Spiral shells 

 glued to a strip op 

 wood, painted black, 

 fastened bt a pin 

 in a wooden stand. 



