340 [Dec. 1847 



obtained in the museum, by removing the library, which had occupied several 

 ranges of cases, into the basement room of the new part of the building. 



In May, 1847, Dr. Wilson made a second large purchase in Ornithology, 

 in England, of Mr. A. Gould's splendid collection of Australian birds, 

 which renders a further increase of space necessary for its accommo- 

 dation. For this purpose, Dr. Wilson obtained ready permission of the 

 Academy to convert its little used lecture room into part of the museumi 

 which work is rapidly progressing towards completion. The north east 

 basement room is also undergoing change for the same object. In accordance 

 with the original plan of the building, all the additions and improvements 

 to it have been made fire-proof. When completed, the collections of the 

 Academy will be contained in three rooms, as follow : 



The first or upper room, or hall, is one hundred and ten feet in length, 

 by forty-two in breadth, and is lighted from above, and from the east 

 and west extremities. On the north and south sides are three galleries, 

 and four ranges of vertical cases, and a range of foot cases at the outer 

 edge of the second gallery. On the west side are three galleries and four 

 ranges of vertical cases, on the east side two galleries and two ranges of 

 vertical cases. The two lower ranges of cases on the south side, for two- 

 thirds the length of the room, corresponding to the old part, are occupied by 

 Dr. S. G. Morton's extensive series of human and other crania, and the col- 

 lection in Comparative Anatomy. The lowest range of cases on the north 

 side, for the same extent as those just mentioned, contains the collection of 

 Mammalia ; and the range above this, Dr. Dickeson's collection of Ameri- 

 can antiquities and the Carpological cabinet, and leads into the herba- 

 rium room in the north east corner. All the remaining ranges of cases 

 mentioned contain the Ornithological collection. The floor of the hall is to 

 be occupied by ranges of horizontal, centrally vertical, double cases for the 

 reception of the collection in Palaeontology. One of these ranges has been 

 already finished, and part of the collection arranged in it ; the others are in 

 progress of construction. At the east extremity, on each side, is a strong 

 vertical case, containing the skeletons of large fossil Sauri in massive slabs 

 of lias limestone. 



The second or east basement room is forty-one feet in length by forty in 

 breadth, with a gallery all around it and communicating with another 

 running through its centre. This room will be appropriated to the Minera- 

 logical, Conchological, Herpetological, and Ichthyological collections. 



Tbe third, or north east basement room is sixteen feet by nine feet, has a 

 gallery on three of its sides, and is to accommodate the collections of 

 Crustacea and Entomology. 



The state of the different departments of the museum, as they at present 

 exist, with the additions which have been made during the past year, will 

 now be briefly referred to. 



Mammalogy. The expensive character of the larger objects in this branch 

 of Zoology, as well as the amount of space required for their proper accom- 

 modation, have prevented the Academy from accumulating any great 

 number of them. We possess most of the North American species, besides 



