SCHOOL MUSEUM CASES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21717, 5 February 1934, Page 12

SCHOOL MUSEUM CASES

LIFE OF PEARL OYSTER MAORI FOOD CUSTOMS NATURAL HISTORY LESSONS Additions to the series of museum school cases that are issued by tho Auckland War Memorial Museum are now completed and will bo available for distribution in tho coming school term. Each of the departments has contributed to these new cases and they should bo valuable in giving the school children an added interest in natural history. They differ from the older cases in having the sido panels hinged so that they form folding doors to the cases.

One entitled "Shellfish Food of the Maori," illustrates the chief forms used in the natives' daily diet. In the centre is a large photograph of a typical cooking midden at Muriwai and round this are placed good specimens of the common edible shellfish such as tho mussel, pawa and scallop. A list both in Maori and in Latin is given of the chief species eaten and the typical localities in which they occur.

Another good case is ono describing the Maori drill or tuiri. In tho centre is a typical implement fitted up for drilling. Specimens of different types of flints used in the drills aro shown. The rest of the case is taken up with examples of drilling, tho handle of a more, the top of a sinker and tho smaller holes in bone needles.

A case that should appeal to children is one illustrating tlio life of the pearl oyster and the manner in which it is induced to grow tho pearl. Diving for tho shell is depicted and in the caso are other shells such as the trochus that are used in making so-called pearl buttons.

The life history of tho New Zealand mistletoe is shown in another case, its habit of growth pn the branches of other trees and the way in which it obtains its nourishment from the sap of its host plant will be a lesson to Auckland children to whom the beautiful New Zealand type of mistletoo is an unfamiliar plant.