252 
ST. ALBANS AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
since the foundation of the Museum, has made the Insecta 
his special care. Here may be found many rarities and types 
for comparison generally lacking from the cabinet of the 
ordinary collector. The rudiments of the science are moreover 
conveyed by means of a most interesting and attractive series of 
cases, also prepared by Mr. Giibbs, in which the structure and 
classification of the several orders of insects are set forth by 
brightly coloured exotic specimens and exhaustive labelling. 
Several drawers of the last cabinet have been devoted to the 
display of a general collection of inland Mollusca, a fine group 
of the sporangia of Mycetozoa, presented by Miss K. Higgins, 
and sundry Invertebrata. 
Contained within two table-cases directly in front of the 
window is an almost complete series of the Decapod Crustaceans, 
whilst ranged on shelves on either side there is a fairly extensive 
collection of marine and freshwater fishes and various marine 
Invertebrates in fluid. Unfortunately the lighting here is 
inadequate to permit critical inspection, but it may be seen 
that the Museum possesses something more than a nucleus of 
a collection embodying every class of the Animal Kingdom 
found within the British area. The specimens here shown, 
i.e. the fishes and marine invertebrates, were largely collected by 
the present curator. 
Along the gallery is a series of cases prepared by Mr. Gibbs, 
illustrating the general economy of insect life. “ Protective 
Besemblance,” “ Mimicry,” “ Warning Coloration,” etc., are 
here most effectively shown by means of well-selected British 
and exotic examples. Below are a few birds generally mounted 
in pairs amongst natural surroundings. A sectional model of 
a mole’s fortress, with albino moles from Woolmer Park, stands 
at the angle of the gallery, whilst on the stairs are a model of 
the nesting-site of the house-martin and a fine specimen of the 
Scotch mountain hare. Many choice prints and drawings of 
local subjects are displayed on the walls of the stairway and 
gallery. Several of the drawings were presented by the artists 
themselves, whilst others are gifts selected by the Herts Art 
Society from works sent to its annual exhibition. 
The main exhibition room is chiefly devoted to Geology, 
Archaeology, and Technology. On the left is a general series of 
fossils arranged in geological sequence. The majority of the 
specimens here shown, many of them being of considerable 
interest, were presented by Mr. John Hopkinson, who was also 
instrumental in obtaining, by exchange with the Sedgwick 
Museum at Cambridge, a number of other choice examples. To 
him and to Dr. John Morison the institution is indebted for the 
representative collection of geological specimens from the county, 
which is displayed at the north end of the room. Of these 
a small group of Wenlock fossils from a deep well-boring at 
Ware, and a large gathering of specimens from the Chalk Bock 
at Chiltern Green railway cutting, are of particular interest. 
