﻿Proceedings of the Society. 



77 



tinued steadily during the year. It is a great labor and takes con- 

 siderable time to label and arrange and catalogue a large number 

 of specimens already on hand, and at the same time keep track of 

 the new ones being constantly received. The accession catalogue 

 has been used to record the specimens already in the collection, as 

 it was considered better to have all together than in several separate 

 lists. The catalogue of the Mollusca presented to the Society in 

 February, and printed in the April number of the Journal, is the 

 first installment of the general catalogue. The plan upon which 

 this is based will be continued until all the specimens have been 

 recorded. When completed, it will probably be best to have the 

 separate parts bound together, and, with a few remarks on certain 

 specimens, make it serve as a sort of a guide to the museum. 



Although the number of specimens added during the year, is not 

 as great as has been the case in former years, enough have been 

 received to force several facts upon the members. The truth is, 

 that the collection of the Society has now become so large that it 

 is a question of room for its display. Even now there are many 

 specimens packed away waiting for case-room, and the time must 

 soon come when the demand for more room and a new building 

 will be imperative. This is a matter which should be borne in 

 mind by the members and friends of the Society. It must not be 

 forgotten that the usefulness of a collection to the general public, 

 as well as to the student, becomes greater the more adequately it 

 is displayed. Not that it is necessary to have an immense amount 

 of material exposed, but that that which is shown should be shown 

 in the best manner. Some one has said that a museum is a collection 

 of labels illustrated by specimens. Labels occupy space, and where 

 this is limited they are liable to suffer. 



It is a matter of considerable difficulty to label specimens in a 

 Natural History Museum. Probably the best way and the one 

 which will occupy the least space and at the same time be the 

 plainest, is by means of printed labels ; but without either a print- 

 ing press, or by the expenditure of considerable sums of money, 

 and the Society has neither the press nor the money, printed labels 

 are out of the question. Written ones are the most available, and 

 when the specimen is small, and the name long, there is danger of 



