Miscellaneous, 393 



dependent on the characters furnished by the variations in the bones, 

 teeth, &c. ; and it is also of great importance to artists, as affording 

 them the best means of studying the forms, attitudes, and charac- 

 teristic marks of the different animals. 



" To give some idea of the importance of the osteological collection, 

 M. Gervais, before he would undertake to continue the late M. de 

 Blaiuville's * Osteographie,* came to England this autumn for the 

 purpose of examining the collection, and assuring himself that there 

 would be no difficulty in his examining and figuring the sj)ecimens 

 contained in it ; for, he observed, if this was not the case, it would be 

 impossible for him to undertake the work with justice to his sub- 

 scribers, as the skeletons were better determined, and it contains many 

 species which were not to be found in any other collection. 



*' The exhibition of the animals in spirit is required to afford stu- 

 dents the means of studying the distribution and arrangement of the 

 animal kingdom, and of determining the species of them. 



" Indeed, until these two collections are exhibited to the public, and 

 arranged in the same order as the stuffed animals now shown, the 

 students visiting the Museum may be considered as being deprived 

 of half the assistance in their studies which the collections might, and 

 indeed ought to afford them." ^ 



"British Museum, February 11th, I852>.ff^ 

 {> u ^j.^ Gray and Mr. Waterhouse beg to report to the Trustees, that 

 they hope, if any new building should be undertaken, that space would 

 be found for the exhibition of the collection of skeletons of verte- 

 brated animals. 



" The exhibition of this collection is of the greatest importance to 

 the progress of zoological and palseontological science ; first for the 

 scientific arrangement and determination of the genera and species of 

 recent vertebrated animals ; and, secondly, for the determination and 

 identification of the fossil species. 



a.. "Mr. Gray and Mr. Waterhouse further beg to observe, that they 

 believe that such a collection is very interesting to the general visit- 

 ors, and most instructive, as enabling them to understand the fossil 

 remains ; and it is also of great importance to artists, as it would 

 assist them to draw the different animals on true principles. These 

 facts are proved to Mr. Gray and Mr. Waterhouse by the number 

 of inquiries that are made after the few skulls which were formerly 

 exhibited in the first room of the northern Zoological Gallery, and 

 the number of persons who now daily come to consult the collection 

 in the basement for scientific purposes, and are also assured of the 

 popular desire of seeing such a collection by the number of persons 

 who visit the celebrated Osteological Museums of Paris and Leyden, 

 where it is of as great interest as the stuffed collections." 



^nh ... ^■;!n^v.f'June26thi|86w! 



) "Mr. Gray, in conformity with the minute of the Trustees of the 

 21st of June, 1851, begs to report that he regrets he has no means 

 of giving a very accurate reply to the first part of the minute, as he 



