This
page shows a part of the ant exhibition and several photos relating
to the Museum of Natural History in Vienna.
Some of descriptions were referred from the English version of
"Short Guide", which is available at the museum shop.
1.
INDEX
The
Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Fine Arts were designed
by Gottfried Semper and Carl Hasenauer and are among the most
representative buildings of historicism in Austria. Construction of
the Museum of Natural History began in 1871. The building, which
measures 170 by 70 meters, consists of two large inner courtyards
surrounded by workrooms and rooms housing the collections. It was
completed on the outside in 1881.
The
oil painting (Messmer and Kohl, 1773), on the main stairwell of the
Museum of Natural History, shows Emperor Frances I (1792-1835),
founder of Vienna's natural history collection, along with the
Museum's first director Johann v. Baillou (second from the left) and
other scholars.
On
the lower exhibition floor the spectrum ranges from the realm of the
inanimate (Department of Mineralogy and Petrography, rooms 1-5), the
sediments and traces of life from past geological ages (Department of
Geology and Paleontology, rooms 6-10). to the archaeological
artefacts of prehistoric man (Department of Prehistory, rooms 11-15)
and the many faces of man (Department of Anthropology, rooms 16-17).
The upper level is devoted to the world of plants (Department of
Botany, room 21) and the great variety of forms found in the animal
kingdom (Zoological Department, rooms 22-39).
At
room 22, photographs and models are used to introduce the minute
protozoan (Cabinets 1 and 2) Each of these animals consists of only a
single cell. Internally they bear so-called organelles (rather than
organs in the strict sense) which carry out all life functions such
as ingestion, locomotion, reproduction etc. Many protozoan are
dangerous parasites (e.g. Entoamoeba historica, the cause of amoebic
dysentery).
There
are 224 glass cases in the middle of the room 24 introduce the
different insect orders with a selection of approximately 50,000
individual specimens belonging to about 10,000 species; this
represents a mere 1% of all known insect species! With a total of
more than one million species, the insects are the largest class of
animals and make up more than 75% of all existing species. Only a few
of the many specimens exhibited can be mentioned here.
About
80 species are exhibited in the glass case 92b and 93a (lower left
and upper right). Each species are represented by several deferent
shapes of specimens, corresponding to the caste system or sexual
differences.
A
view of the glass case 93a.
Formica sanguinea Latr. |
Formica rufa L. |
Myrmecocystus viaticus Fabr. |
Colobopis lateralis Olivier |
Formica cinerra Mayr. |
Polyergus rufescens Latr. |
Camponotus aethiops Latr. |
Camponotus vagus Scopoli |
Camponotus marginatus Latr. |
Pheidole fimbriata Roger |
Pheidole auropillosa Mayr |
Aphaenogaster structor Latr. |
Pogonomyrmex barbatus Smith |
Leptothorax acervorum Fabr. |
Tetramorium caespitum L. |
Liometopom microcephalum Panz. |
Dolichoderus attelaboides Fabr. |
Dolichoderus quadripunctatus L. |
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The
Palm House, located at the garden of Schönbrunn
Palace (Southern West part of Vienna), is the largest
glass-house in Europe with its impressive view of seemingly
weightless architectonic interplay of glass and iron. The three
spacious pavilions, in each of which a different climatic zone has
been created, contain rare plants from all over the world. It was
commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I and completed from plans by
the court architect F. v. Segenschmid in 1882.
Copyright of Photos: Akira Kihara, Ph.D.Laboratory of Biology, Hosei University
Fujimi, Chiyoda, Tokyo 102, JAPAN