118 
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
would have only to visit the local museum to find a complete 
series of specimens illustrating such a family or genus more 
thoroughly than could be possibly done in our National Museum, 
both on account of the better facilities for obtaining specimens, 
and the additional amount of room that could well be assigned 
to each species. The reason so many local museums are the 
repositories of all sorts of heterogeneous matter is due to 
the reluctance of the governing body—generally a committee 
of estimable men, but who know nothing of Natural History— 
to refuse anything that may be offered for fear of giving 
offence and checking future donations. A private collector 
has generally to destroy his first, and sometimes his second 
collection, before experience teaches him what to save and 
how to store his treasures; but lie has this advantage over a 
public museum: he can get rid of his duplicates and rubbish 
how and when he pleases, whereas the public body cannot. 
If the vast amount of rubbish, often an accumulation of years, 
could be swept away, and the collections begun de novo , with 
the good things left as a nucleus, a great improvement would 
soon be observable. Rarely does a museum possess a 
catalogue worthy of the name, and frequently the curator 
knows nothing and cares less about the objects placed under 
his care, and looks upon his office as a sort of comfortable 
retirement in which to end his days ; and lastly, the want of 
funds is an always present calamity and effective stop to any 
progress in institutions of this kind. No doubt, you will ask, 
how can such a state of things be altered? Without much 
trouble, I think, by a committee annually elected by the local 
authorities, either Town Council or Local Board as the case 
may be, associated with, say, three naturalists nominated by 
the local Natural History Society or Field Club. This would 
enlist the sympathy and ensure the co-operation of many 
naturalists in obtaining specimens for the museum, at a great 
saving of cost; at the same time, by creating a personal 
interest, it would greatly assist in inducing specialists to 
undertake that their branch of study should be well and 
properly represented. This committee should be the governing 
body, to whom a grant should be annually made from the 
Museum and Free Library Rate ; there should be no lavish 
expenditure allowed upon unnecessary glass cases and fittings; 
a carefully compiled catalogue, with reference number attached 
to each specimen, should be provided; the exhibits should be 
properly labelled so as to furnish general information to 
visitors as to habits, &c., and admission should be free. If I 
were called upon to arrange an ornithological collection of a 
district, I should only require a large room with top light, 
