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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL IIISTOIIY. 



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(lont^5, ii novel fcadire liiis been rcroiitly adiluil t 

 the Jc'siip collection — a scric's of groups illu.stral 

 ing economic ento;uology, showing the varioii 

 phases of insect life, and its destructive effec 

 upon vegetation. The tree-branch exhibited i 

 each group is natural, the leaves are modeled i 

 wax exactly from nature, and the insect destroyei 

 in its various stages of existence — moth, eggi 

 larviB, chrysalis — the genuine article, except ]■ 

 some cases where the caterpillar cannot be pri 

 served. 



Parasites have been found whose special niis.~io 

 seems to be to kill certain insects -which arc dc 

 strnctive to vegetation — a most important di? 

 covery. For example, it is well known that th 

 orange-tree has immy enemies. Awhile ago, som 

 California orange-growers traced a certain ravag 

 ing insect to its home, in Australia, and sen 

 thither entomologists to study its habits. In th 

 conrse of their investigations they discovered 

 parasite which proved itself to be an antidote t 

 this preyer on orange-trees. Now the orange 

 growers are raising broods of this nseful littl 

 parasite, and wlien they are let loose in an orange 

 grove the work is done. Thus the study of er 

 tomology in connection with trees becomes con; 

 mercially valuable. 



The Ornithological Department, in charge c 

 Professor J. A. Allen, with its thousands c 

 mounted specimens, is peculiarly attractive. ] 

 we intended to make a scientific study of birds 

 we should begin by remembering that ornitholc 

 gists tell ns that birds are nndoubtedly descende' 

 from reptilian ancestors ; and we shouhl wish t 

 trace the connecting links between birds and rejc 

 tiles, as furnished, not by the existing forms, bu 

 by extinct types of both. Thcsi- links are foun( 

 in fossilifcrous rocks, and some curious restora 

 tions of these early bird-reptiles have been mad( 

 by skillful paleontologists. Skeletons of toothet 

 birds have also been discovered in geological for 

 mations — not always entire, but bones enough t( 

 enable naturalists to reconstruct them for tin 

 bencht of science ; as, for example, one of thi 

 genus llvspcrtiniis, whose bones were discovere( 

 by I'rofessor Marsh, of New JIaven. Casts of tin 

 jn'incii)al bones of this creature uuiy be seen ii 

 one of the cases. 



A peculiarly noticeable specimen in the mn 

 seum is the skeleton of the nioa, a large, extinc 

 bird foi-merly inhabiting New Zealand. It wa 

 allied in form and character to the ostrich, bu 

 with rudimentary wings. Gi'eat quantities o 

 bones of moas have been found in siiperficia 

 deposits, leading to the belief that they havi 

 become extinct recently. In one of the cases i 

 a series of skeletons of moas. 



Another bird, nndoubtedly extinct, as no liv 

 ing one has been seen for nearly half a century. 



