PROCEEDINGS. 



183 



Contribution. 



Description. 



Contribution. 



A Clutch of Eggs of the 

 White-crested Kalij Phea- 

 sant. 



1 Bnake 



4. Cobras (alive) > 



17 Phoorsas (alive) 



1 Ground Snake 



1 Snake 



4 Mouse-Hares sp.n 



Some Lepidoptera from 



Quetta .District. 

 3 Chukor Partridges from 



Arabia (alive). 

 14 Growing Cocos de Mer 



nuts from Seychelles. 

 1 Malav Bittern 



Gennceus albicristatus 



Gongylophis conicus 

 Naia tripudiaus ..... 



Echis earinata 



Eryx johnii ... 



Tropidonotus plumbicolor . 

 Ochotona icardi sp. n 



Cacabis chucar 



Lodoicea Sechellarum 



Gorxachiua melanolophu-s 



Mr. F. Field. 



Capt. J. S. Oxley, I.M.S. 

 Col. W. B. Banneiman, 

 I.M.S. 



Do. 

 Major H. D. Merewether. 

 Mr. D. A. MacMillan. 

 Col. A. E. Ward. 

 Mr. Neville Eliot, R.A. 



Major F. V. Whittal. 



Monsr. R. Dupont. 



Mr. J. B. Russell. 



Minor Contributions.— Mr. F. Napier, Capt. G. M. Morris, Mr. J. W. Watson, 

 and Mr. Bapu W. Telang. 



The following contribution to the library has been made :— The Manual of 

 Plague, by Major W. E. Jennings, M.D., I.M.S. By the Author. 



PROPOSED PUBLIC MUSEUM. 



The correspondence between the Proposed Museum Committee and the 

 Bombay Natural History Society was placed before the meeting, and the 

 following extract shows the opinion of the committee on the subject :— 



" We are strongly of opinion that the Government of Bombay should possess 

 a Scientific Museum in this city, and that a trained staff should be engaged 

 from Europe with the object of carrying on research in every branch of 

 Natural History, commencing with those which have a conspicuous economic 

 value, but we think it would be worse than a mistake to undertake the 

 formation of such an institution unless ample funds for endowment as well as 

 for building are provided. 



" A museum as a mere exhibition of natural history specimens is, in our 

 opinion, of very little value, but as the head-quarters of a scientific staff, engaged 

 in research, and containing working collections from which knowledge may be 

 obtained, it then becomes an institution of enormous value to the State. For 

 instance, it is obvious that, as a Maritime people, we ought before this to have 

 done something to improve the coast fisheries of India, but nothing practical can 

 be done in this direction until we possess a more complete knowledge of the 

 marine fauna. At present we know nothing of the migration of sea fishes 

 or the periods and places at which they breed, and such knowledge can 

 only be obtained by means of systematic collections made by trained natur- 

 alists. 



" To possess such a museum, therefore, it is necessary to consider what will 

 be the working expenses of the scientific staff as well as the proba ble cost of a 

 building to contain collections and laboratories. 



