42 On the Formation of a Local Museum.
may he attached to the stopper of a glass jar, and so
suspended in an upright position.
Land and fresh-water shells, like birds' eggs, are best kept
in drawers, so as to protect them from the light, which would
otherwise soon cause their colours to fade. The best way to
free the shells from their inhabitants is to plunge them into
boiling water, and keep them therein long enough to ensure
death, when the animal is easily removed.
With regard to the collection and preservation of insects,
every elementary work on Entomology gives full directions.
Plants should be dried between sheets of botanical drying-
paper, which should be repeatedly changed during the
process, and kept under pressure, and, when dried, should
be attached by narrow strips of gummed paper to stouter
white paper of a uniform size—folio is best—and kept in
portfolios, or drawers. Palaeontological specimens should be
kept in glass cases to be readily observed, and careful notes
made of the localities in which they have been found.
Every specimen, whether animal, vegetable, or paleonto-
logical, should have a ticket attached to it, on which its
generic and specific names, locality, date, and name of the
finder, should be legibly written ; while any additional notes
of interest should be entered in a book kept for the purpose.
One of the most interesting results of these local col-
lections will be the light thrown upon the geographical
distribution of plants and animals, and the relation between
the geology of the district and its organised productions.
Having, then, briefly considered the uses and advantages
of a local museum, and the simplest mode of collecting and
arranging the objects to be preserved therein, it may not be
out of place to offer some suggestions as to management,
which will be best entrusted perhaps to a Committee and an
Honorary Secretary.
The Committee having determined certain preliminary
considerations, such as the housing of the collections, the
question of Museum Funds, &c, it will be found desirable to
adopt some such rules (amongst others) as the following:—
1. That all specimens, which must be in a good state of