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Museum notes

Chroniaue

The one-hundredth anniversary of the Natural History Museum, Genoa

Gcnoa’s Natural History Museum (fig. 28), now 100 years old, is among thc most important in Italy. On thc occasion of its first ccntenary, in Junc 1969, thc fiftecnth Congrcss of the So-cięta Italiana di Biogeografia was held in thc museum.

Whilc belonging to the city of Genoa, the museum bears the namc of its founder, Gia-como Doria (1840-1913), a keen naturalist who travelled widely (Lran, Borneo, Tunisia, ctc.), collecting and studying. Hc hcld important offices, such as Prcsidcnt of thc Societa Geo-grafica Italiana, and thcsc gave him many oppor-tunitics to promotc thc rapid expansion of thc museum, which thus bccame a centrę of scien-tific activity wcll known at homc and abroad.

The present premises werc inaugurated in 1912. There are twenty-thrcc rooms for the exhi-bits, other rooms containing study collections, thc iibrary and laboratorics. The same building houses thc Italian Entomological Society, the Gcnocsc Association for Protcction of Naturę and an amateur astronomers’ society, Urania.

Originally, rcsearch was carricd out at thc Genoa museum, in various branchcs of thc natural Sciences, but thc emphasis was on zoology. Conductcd by cmincnt scientists from many countrics, rcsearch was bascd essentiaily on thc valuablc collections brought back by Italian c.Yplorcrs and naturalists, who ranged far afield with thc support and guidancc of the museum.¹

The materiał rcservcd for rcsearch workers, and thcrcforc not on show, includes invaluable scries of mammals, birds and fish and a large collcction of insects, of which the Emery col-lection of ants is one of the most outstanding. In rccent years much attention has bcen givcn to certain groups of invertebratcs, which museums often ovcrlook.

In thc rooms normally open to thc public, visitors may observe all thc most charactcristic rcprescntativcs of thc various fauna and indi-vidual zoological groups. Notable are the apes (including a large Borneo orang-utan), thc marsupials (Tasmanian wolf, marsupial mole, etc.), the edentata (including two giant arma-dillos). Among thc carnivora mention should bc madę of the Madagascan civct (foussa), thc snów leopard and an cnormous clephant-seal from Patagonia. Ungulatcs include the wild ass, the Indian tapir, thc okapi (one of the very first specimens to reach Europę), thc David’s dccr and the Abyssinian ibcx. There are many bats, Doria himsclf having worked on this animal. Naturally only a fcw characteristic specimens are on display (the vampirc, the flying fox). The ostcological collection is con-sidcrablc. Numcrous skeletons include those of the okapi, various cctacea and pinnipedia, apes, etc., and there are large serics of skulls.

Some bird-cases contain Italian spccics, others tropical, mountain or sea birds, etc. Par-ticularly valuable in the ornithological section of the museum are the cassowaries, paradisc birds and kingfishers. Many of thesc beautiful birds have unfortunately bccomc rarc. Only a limited selection of thc invertcbratcs is on display, but these are enough to arousc much admiration. This is the case, for cxamplc, with the cowries (Sulliotti collection), tropical shells much apprcciated for their beauty, and thc morphc (R. Doria collection), large bril-liantly colourcd South American butterflies. The protozoa are represented by a serics of drawings which show mainly the pathogcnic specics. There are also a few modcls of the shells of foraminifera.

The first nucleus of thc geomineralogical section of the museum was madę up of the mincrals, rocks and fossils of the Gcnoesc geo-logist L. Pareto. This grew rapidly with thc large collection of Italian minerals presented by thc enginccr G. B. Traverso (1872) and many Tcrtiary fossils from Liguria. Particularly important among thc latter are thc rcmains of cave bears, shells and various specics of plants. In thc large Palcontology room there is, among other specimens, an cnormous skcleton— almost complete—of Elepbas antiquus discovcr-cd near Vitcrbo (central Italy) in 1941, somc dinosaur bones and a collection of amber with insects embedded.

Botanical collections are not lacking, but are not shown to thc public. Alongside the older herbaria—one of which is due to Doria—are the iichcns donated morę recently by V. Sbar-baro and the algac, cspccially from thc Ligu-rian Sca, which havc only becn collcctcd over the last few years.

The muscurrfs Iibrary is well stockcd with books and pcriodicals. Among thc numerous older works of great value those published in Paris after Napolcon’s Egyptian campaign, thc famous Iconografia della Fauna Italica by C. L. Bonaparte, Gould’s ornithological atlases, Blecker’s ichthyological ones, etc., should bc mentioned. There arc, of course, many volumes on thc gcographical and naturalist exp!oration of the various contincnts, on the great occano-graphic cxpcditions and on local fauna. Somc 600 periodicals are receivcd rcgularly, chicfly in exchange for publications issucd by the museum.

The Annals are attached to thc 77th volume. Since 1949 fascicles of Doriana have been issued cvcry year. This pcriodical, which publishes shorter papers, scrves as a supplement to the Annals.

Currcnt rcsearch at the Genoa museum is chicfly conccrned with the fauna of Liguria, terrcstrial and marinę. Entomological research, which has a finc tradition at Genoa, continues. Of late it has been spurred by work in hcrpc-tology, ichthyology and marinę biology with the support of thc National Council of Research. The last subjcct also comcs within the activities of thc International Commission for the Scicntific Exploration of the Mcditcrranean.

28. Museo Civico Dr Storia Naturale Gra como Dorla, Genoa. Vicw of the building.

28. Vuc du batiment.

1. A serics of important joumcys was rtu<le at thc turn of thc century. It i$ worth rcealling, in particuhr, those of O. Rcccari, L. Loria, E. Modigliani, L. M. D^Albcrcis (Malaya, thc Moiuccas, New Guinca), L. Fea (Burma and West Africa), V. Bottcgo, O. Anrinoci, S. Patrizi, E. Zavat-tari (East Africa), G. Bovc (Patagonia, Congo), L. Balzan and G. Boggiani (South America).

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