A human skeleton leaping onto the tip of a mammoth's tusk is not the only prank of the designers of the palaeontology hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science; there are other diverting scenes, for instance, a group of human skeletons…

A human skeleton leaping onto the tip of a mammoth's tusk is not the only prank of the designers of the palaeontology hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science; there are other diverting scenes, for instance, a group of human skeletons driving a mammoth, or a mammoth skeleton soaring, or rather, presumably, falling into a pit, and there is also the skeleton of a smilodon hunting a human skeleton. I like such a museum far better than those tedious spaces with glass display cases. True, in Houston some of the skeletons have been replaced by bronze copies or analogues in other materials, so they may be touched without fear, and this by no means diminishes the effect produced by exhibits that, though not authentic, are exhibits all the same. Among unusual palaeontological displays I was reminded of the Paris laboratory, which we visited last year; its display is usually called a herd of skeletons because of the peculiar way they are arranged.