Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/83

 lAXr-iRT 33,1885.]

��SCIENCE.

��tAls, and the siibstantisl interest inspireil by the metRla. vUitore always pause with new gratifieaiion before some ciiriouB rosetted crys- tals of a form of Jirae; and a look of deep wisdom conies into their fuces as they read the [dniin. " I told von so.

���label. "Ah: " they These arc import- ed. I knew there could he nothing so pretty as tiiot on this side. They do these things better in Frauce, you know." And so they pass ont. usually quite OTerlooking the ' educational se-

been spread with

such pains for 'i b •' ■

their iBstruclion. *'"'■ ~f1^l,^l/^f^'l"''^' "'

This educa- tional collection. "'dlI"ii'l!ji?eu'l'lho"^eln.'n'^n which seems to illpplngdown; b.wlnwlIliIbesDd bo extremely apt whldi oMecU can be g\aei; c. >

and well selected. iTl^,,;L^X8° d'lpl'^n.bl concentrates in a bc.M.T ii«opular with the public, since it ia devoted chiefly to modern animal life. The first thing to strike the eye in the south room is a fine series of compara- tive skeletons of primates, from civilized man down to the humblest of monkeys, alt banging in It beautilbl row by hooka screwed into the tops of their heads. The set is usually spoken of as Professor Jfarsh's snnday-achool class, but an unprejudiced mind can see that really there is no truth in this irreverent comparison. Beyond them, the whole side of the room i» l!Ued Willi eases containing an orderly succes- sion of skeletons illustrating all the vertebrate orders ; while the centre of the room is occu- pied by the skeletons and stuffed hides of the larger mammals, like the camel, rhinoceros, a verv dejected polar bear, etc

��III Ihc same room several cases are tilled with stuffed skins of mammals, birds, and rep- tiles. Beside most of the land birds are placed their nests, with the eggs ; or else the eggs are glued upon upright tablets of ground glass, in which position they show to excellent advan- tage. One large ease is devoted to a collec- tion of New-England birds alone, excellently mounted upon the branches of a tree. This is the work of Prof. W. I). Whitney, who, before he became prominent as a linguist, was known as a good ornithologist ; as. in fact, be still is.

Passing to the west room on the same floor, one sees invertebrate preparations most attrac- tively displaj'ed. They are confined almost wholly, however, to the Crustacea, mollusks. ra4i

����On the other band, the special tastes of Professors Verrill, S. I. Smith, J. H. Emerton, and others, and the intimate relations the mu- seum (through these gentlemen) has sustained with the Smithsonian institution and the U. S- fiah-commission, have brought the department

�� �