poken
of before), on uninteresting stands or perches (hat-pegs) such as the
skeletons in Plates II. and III. are represented on.

This, which was, perhaps, inevitable in a national collection
professedly showing to the public every species of bird and mammal in
the least possible space, is unpardonable in a provincial museum,
which has not the task imposed upon it of attempting to vie with the
national collection in point of numbers. Provincial museums, then, if
electing to show only animals collected in their immediate vicinity or
county (which some authorities--of whom anon--say is the only raison
d'etre of a provincial museum), or, if electing to supplement these by
showing a few foreign forms of striking appearance, fall into grievous
error by mounting the necessarily few specimens they can get together
on "hat-pegs," simply because the national collection, with which they
are not on "all fours," sets them the bad example in this.

Now for South Kensington: the imitation I decry is that of black, or
black-and-gold cases, suitable the exhibition of art treasures, but
objectionable for natural history objects, which, usually dreary
enough in their abject condition on pegs, are rendered more funereal
by their black, or black-and-gold surroundings; yet, with these
obvious disadvantages, what do we see in some provincial museums?--a
servile adoption of South Kensington "ebonized" cases, without any
reference to fitness. It is positively painful to see elaborately
carved and gilded cases, costing, perhaps, a hundred guineas a-piece,
entombing a few wretchedly-mounted specimens worth, perhaps, less than
L5 the lot.

I have technical objections to "ebonized" cases, which I am sure have
been lost sight of by all but the makers of such articles. These
are--first, that if deal, or pine, or common cedar is used to make the
cases with, they will shrink, lose colour, or be easily chipped or
dinted, becoming in a short time useless and shabby; and, on the other
hand, if made by first-class makers out of good mahogany, afterwards
blacked or "ebonized," their price is enormous, and out of all
proportion to their appearance, added to which they get worn on their
edges in a short time and show the mahogany underneath in reddish,
rust-coloured streaks on their most prominent parts.

How ridiculous, then, does it seem to cover up serviceable and
handsome (and expensive) mahogany with a coat of black simply for the
sake of getting a