40 APPENDIX. 



bility resting on his own shoulders ; because in calling in that 

 gentleman to act as co-valuer, he was bound to point out to 

 him every part which he (Dr. Buckland) believed to be man- 

 ufactured. 



In paragraph 6, Dr. Buckland states that the manufac- 

 tured parts ought most assuredly to be indicated by being 

 coloured differently to the parts which are genuine. How 

 came Dr. Buckland not to request Mr. Hawkins to have this 

 done before he and Mr. Mantell visited the collection for the 

 purpose of setting a price upon it ? This would have saved 

 Dr. Buckland the disagreeable necessity of having to come 

 forward, to try to make the public believe that there was 

 no foundation for any suspicion of " fraud or collusion." — Be- 

 sides which, Mr. Hawkins would have then had the full value 

 put upon his specimens, — that is the additional sum which the 

 British Museum now owes him, on account of the extraordi- 

 nary blunder which Dr. Buckland pretends to have commit- 

 ted. The light breaking in upon Dr. Buckland, as to the 

 urgent necessity for colouring the spurious portions, nine 

 months after he had sent the collection to the Museum, and 

 not until Mr. Konig himself happened to discover the condi- 

 tion of those portions, can only be regarded as forming one 

 of the most singular coincidences on record. 



When Dr. Buckland penned this defence for Mr. Hawkins, 

 it is probable that the contents of a letter which he addressed 

 to the Trustees a few months previously w^ere not very fresh 

 in his recollection, as it will be seen that upon that occasion 

 there was no hint given to the Trustees about any want of 

 fidelity in the published plates. The letter in question ap- 

 pears at p. 440 of the Report. 



No. 26. 



Letter from Rev. Dr. Buckland, to the Trustees of the British Museum. 



Oxford, July 7, 1834. 

 My Lords and Gentlemen, 



I beg to inform you that I have received a communica- 

 tion from Mr. T. Hawkins, stating that he is anxious to see placed in the 

 British Museum his collection of gigantic fossil reptiles, found in the 

 counties of Dorset and Somerset, and that he is ready to sell them to the 

 Trustees at any price that I shall name. 



I have declined to act alone, and have proposed that Mr. Mantell 

 should assist me in the valuation, in case the matter should he favourably 

 regarded by the Trustees. 



I beg leave to state my opinion with respect to this collection, 

 that it is absolutely unique, and" that I consider it a matter of very high 

 importance to the Museum to get possession of it ; it is such as I could 

 scarcely have believed it possible to make, and such as could only have 



