394 NATURAL SCIENCE. l^ov.. 1894. 



A healthy record of work done towards the cataloguing of the vast collections 

 is reported, no less than five volumes being listed. These comprise two on Birds, 

 one on Snakes, one on Lepidoptera, and one on Corals. 



From the special report devoted to the Department of Zoology, we learn 

 that the whole of the series of Birds' eggs, some 47,000, has been arranged by 

 Mr. Seebohm, and is now accessible. Six hundred and eighty type-specimens of land 

 and fresh-water shells from the Morelet collection have been purchased and incor- 

 porated with thegeneral series, and the arrangement ofthe Scorpions is nearly finished. 

 The interesting groups of British Birds have been increased by three, viz., Greater 

 Black-backed Gull, Dotterel, and Greenfinch, anda large series of models illustrating 

 the life-history of insects has been placed in the insect gallery. No less than 130,185 

 specimens were received during the year, a number never before reached in the 

 history of the Museum. 



Turning to the Department of Geology, the chief acquisitions are the skull of 

 Megaladapis from Madagascar {see Natural Science, vol. iv., p. 243), and the 

 exquisite and perfect skeleton of a young Plesiosaur from the Oxford Clay of Fletton, 

 near Peterborough. This, perhaps the most beautiful example of Plesiosaurus 

 known, has been articulated so as to permit of the detachment of any single bone, 

 and has been placed in a special case in the Reptilian Gallery. 



In the Department of Mineralogy, the principal addition to the collection is 

 that of the Williams Minerals above mentioned. The fine series of Meteorites has 

 been increased by sixteen specimens, of which as many as ten are new to the 

 collection. A series of 369 rock specimens, and microscopical sections of the same 

 from the Allport collection, have also been secured. 



No less than 17,677 specimens of plants have been incorporated into the 

 collections of the Botanical Department, but the principal additions in Botany 

 were the Deby Diatoms, comprising about 30,000 named slides, and the Jenner 

 Herbarium of Algse, containing 6,000 specimens. From the above sketch, the 

 extraordinary growth of the Museum collections must be apparent to the least 

 observant, and we hope soon to hear of extensions to the buildings, else the old 

 Bloomsbury trouble must come back again. 



As we go to press, we are informed by a correspondent that Mr. E. J. Bles, the 

 Director of the Marine Biological Station at Plymouth, and Dr. G. H. Fowler, the 

 Honorary Secretary of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 

 have tendered their resignations. 



The Rolleston Memorial Prize, for original work in biology accomplished by 

 graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, has been adjudged to Messts. M. S. Pembrey, 

 of Christ Church, and E. S. Goodrich, of Merton College, both of Oxford, whose 

 merit was considered equal. 



