order, or more fatal to an instructive arrangement,
than the gift of a collection, coupled with a stipulation that it must
be displayed in some special way. [Footnote: We possess in the
Leicester Museum a very fine collection of the whole of the "British"
Birds (totally devoid, however of a history of the specimens) called
the "Bickley Collection"--bequeathed to the town under these
conditions--which, could we have used it to embellish our present
arrangement, would have saved money, and, what is still more
important, the entire wall space of a small room now devoted to them.]
It is far better to forego the possession even of a valuable series of
specimens than to sacrifice order for their sake . . . .

The following is the plan of arrangement adopted in connection with
each group: Wherever circumstances permit, the plan for each group
includes (1) A printed schedule, (2) Exotic species, (3) British
representatives, (4) The printed tablet, (5) Earliest fossils, (6)
Diagrams and other illustrations, (7) Species and varieties on a more
extended scale."

The schedule, of which an example follows, is printed in large type,
and is attached conspicuously to the drawer:

GROUP 222.

SUB-KINGDOM

PROVINCE

CLASS

SUB-CLASS

ORDER

SUB-ORDER

FAMILY

Annulosa

Arthropoda

Insecta

Metabola

Lepidoptera

Rhopalocera

Papilionidae

Skeleton external, ringed.

Limbs jointed.

Legs, six.

Transformations complete.

Wings with scales.

Horns clubbed at the apex.

Middle nerve of fore-wing 4-branched.

The whole "Synopsis," published at a shilling, by the authorities of
the Liverpool Museum, is well worth reading. It contains a store of
information, not the least interesting being the Greek and Latin
derivations of the scientific names. I am especially glad to see that
the Greek characters are not barbarously replaced by English
"equivalents," which nearly always fail to give the key to the roots.
[Footnote: I noticed "Ocnai gunaike" written in a scientific work
lately, and I thought I never saw a sentence so ugly and so unlike
what it would be if written in Greek characters or properly
pronounced.]

The cases themselves are excellently adapted to show the specimens,
and the plan--if we except the division labelled "British," which
might be advantageously altered, I think, to "Animals belonging to the
above group (etc.), found also in Britain"--is admirable. Not only are
objects dried, moun