knowledge of the distribution and variation of the species in other countries, especially Mexico, Northern Asia and Europe, we should have a work which would enable lepidopterists to work in future on a firm foundation. At present, however, American lepidopterists are far behind their col¬ leagues in ornithology and mammalogy, and systematic work seems to be rather at a standstill. There are some beautiful and well-stuffed groups of mammals in the Smithsonian Museum, especially of the buffalo, which show the high standard of art to which taxidermy has now reached in the United States. I say art, because though the stuffing of animals, birds and fish has not been treated as an art, and until quite recently has been done by workmen of a low grade, it is certainly deserving of a higher and more educated treatment. The lovely groups of birds in the South Kensington Museum are to my mind works of art of higher type than much of the painting and sculpture which one sees, and, if there were more men capable of combining a knowledge of the anatomy and habits of living animals with the technical handicraft of taxidermy, we should have a great deal more pleasure in looking at museums than at present. The old-fashioned cases in which a pair of birds sat facing each other in an erect position on the conventional branch, and decorated with the same lichens, the same grasses and the same pebbles, are the best we can now get from the ordinary English bird-stuffer. Such work is often nasty and anything but cheap, and the exorbitant prices which are often charged for such work in London shops disgust people who would be glad to pay, as I should, from three to five pounds a week to a man who took pride in his work to do it in one’s own house. For such men there is both in America and England ample scope, and the best among them would be certain of regular employment; but unless they improve their style, their occupation will get, as so much other work does, into the hands of foreigners. The three best specimens of taxidermy in my house were done at Brussels, at Trondhjem and at Moscow; and I do not know where to find a working bird-stuffer in England whom I could trust without constant personal supervision to do anything which would be a pleasure to the eye and in accordance with nature.
From Washington I returned to New York, and went home by the White Star Line, which I have found the most comfortable of all the Trans¬ atlantic lines I have tried.
