•28 APPExNDlX. 



of the fossil remain was given to the Trustees as the purcha- 

 sers, or to the officer at the head of the Natural- History de- 

 partment, Mr. Konig; and this being the case, the whole 

 thing hinges upon whether there was or was not a full and 

 explicit understanding between the seller and the valuers, 

 as to the precise extent of the manufactured parts ; and the 

 affirmative of that proposition being assumed, whether or not 

 the purchasers ought to have been informed that the litho- 

 graphic print submitted to their inspection, was not an honest 

 representation of the original. 



Waiving for the present the discussion upon the two-hun- 

 dred-guinea specimen, I will commence by referring to page 

 438, vol. 2 of the Parliamentary Report, where I find the fol- 

 lowing British Museum Minute. 



No. 15. 



[MINUTE of the General Meeting, dated July 12th 1834.] 



" A Letter, dated July 9tli, was read from Mr. Thomas Hawkins, offer- 

 ing to the Trustees his collection of fossil remains of Ichthyosauri and 

 Plesiosauri, for any sum of money at which they might be valued by Pro- 

 fessor Buckland of Oxford ; Mr. Hawkins stated that this offer included 

 all the articles engraved in his published work on these fossils." 



The next documents bearing upon the subject, which I se- 

 lect, are two letters of Dr. Buckland's, one published in the 

 Parliamentary Report, and the other by Mr. Hawkins himself, 

 in an appendix to his work. 



No. 16. 



LETTER from the Rev. Dr. Buckland to the Trustees of the British 



Museum. 



London, 12 July, 1834. 

 My Lords and Gentlemen, 



I have this day carefully looked over the collection of the 

 remains of Sauri offered for sale to the British Museum by Mr. Hawkins, 

 and have had the valuable assistance of Mr. Mantell, in estimating every 

 article separately. After carefully revising our notes, taken on separate 

 lists, vdthout communication with one another, we found our estimates of 

 the whole to coincide within 5l. ; they are as below : 



All the specimens engraved in Mr. Hawkins's publication (substituting 

 a large Plesiosaurus, now in Adelaide-street, for plate 4, the subject of 

 which has been sold), we value at 1,025Z. The remainder of his collection 

 of Sauri, not published in his work, but which we also strongly recommend 

 to be purchased for the Museum, we value at 225/. Total value, 1 , 250/. 

 In this estimate we do not include the cases of wood in which some of 

 the specimens are framed ; these are to be paid for by the Trustees, at a 

 separate valuation to be made by two persons, one of whom is to be ap- 

 pointed by the Trustees, and the other by Mr. Hawkins ; with reference to 

 their umpire, in case of a difference of opinion as to the value. 



I have the honour, he, 

 (Signed) WM. BUCKLAND. 



