File:The American Museum of Natural History (1891) (17487747334).jpg

Title: The American Museum of Natural History
Identifier: american00titc (find matches)
Year: 1891
Authors: Titcomb, Mary
Subjects: American Museum of Natural History; Natural history museums
Publisher: (Austin, TX) : BookLab, Inc.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: IMLS / LSTA / METRO

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390 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL IIISTOIIY. \\\\\\\-\\\\n1x^V!J!^\n\ '^^'^^^ s*?-n'^\
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(lont^5, ii novel fcadire liiis been rcroiitly adiluil t the Jc'siip collection—a scric's of groups illu.stral ing economic ento;uology, showing the varioii phases of insect life, and its destructive effec upon vegetation. The tree-branch exhibited i each group is natural, the leaves are modeled i wax exactly from nature, and the insect destroyei in its various stages of existence—moth, eggi larviB, chrysalis—the genuine article, except )■ some cases where the caterpillar cannot be pri served. Parasites have been found whose special niis.~io seems to be to kill certain insects -which arc dc strnctive to vegetation—a most important di? covery. For example, it is well known that th orange-tree has immy enemies. Awhile ago, som California orange-growers traced a certain ravag ing insect to its home, in Australia, and sen thither entomologists to study its habits. In th conrse of their investigations they discovered parasite which proved itself to be an antidote t this preyer on orange-trees. Now the orange growers are raising broods of this nseful littl parasite, and wlien they are let loose in an orange grove the work is done. Thus the study of er tomology in connection with trees becomes con; mercially valuable. The Ornithological Department, in charge c Professor J. A. Allen, with its thousands c mounted specimens, is peculiarly attractive. ) we intended to make a scientific study of birds we should begin by remembering that ornitholc gists tell ns that birds are nndoubtedly descende' from reptilian ancestors ; and we shouhl wish t trace the connecting links between birds and rejc tiles, as furnished, not by the existing forms, bu by extinct types of both. Thcsi- links are foun( in fossilifcrous rocks, and some curious restora tions of these early bird-reptiles have been mad( by skillful paleontologists. Skeletons of toothet birds have also been discovered in geological for mations—not always entire, but bones enough t( enable naturalists to reconstruct them for tin bencht of science ; as, for example, one of thi genus llvspcrtiniis, whose bones were discovere( by I'rofessor Marsh, of New JIaven. Casts of tin jn'incii)al bones of this creature uuiy be seen ii one of the cases. A peculiarly noticeable specimen in the mn seum is the skeleton of the nioa, a large, extinc bird foi-merly inhabiting New Zealand. It wa allied in form and character to the ostrich, bu with rudimentary wings. Gi'eat quantities o bones of moas have been found in siiperficia deposits, leading to the belief that they havi become extinct recently. In one of the cases i a series of skeletons of moas. Another bird, nndoubtedly extinct, as no liv ing one has been seen for nearly half a century.

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