Timed to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Carl Linnaeus, this exhibition is an ode to the man who devised the system of naming species that largely survives to this day (and is thus to blame for all the unmemorable latin names for common plants).

Rather than taking the form of an exhibition in a single, temporary space, A Place for Everything is spread out throughout the Manchester Museum. A major display on the ground floor looks at order is derived from the ‘chaos’, with an arrangement suggestive of how any early curator’s office might look - full of overflowing drawers of papers and specimens glued to glass microscope slides. Also positioned here is an apparently infamous giant spider crab. It’s not hugely obvious how this related to the subject matter, but it certainly creeps out the kids.

Elsewhere, on the upper floor is a display of drawings of animals and plants, accompanied by their Linnean name. Most interestingly, perhaps, is the way that some of the museum’s permanent natural history exhibits have been re-interpreted for the occasion. Colourful decorative vinyls labels adorn the cases of the some of the stuffed animals, giving a new insight into how they were discovered and named. In addition, amongst these exhibits are two new cases showcasing original copies of Linnaeus’s epic Systema Naturae great tome of a book.

A Place For Everything is on at The Manchester Museum in Manchester until 31 October 2007.