LINNBAN SOCIETY OP LONDON. 23 



displayed was not only crowded and ill-arranged, bnt was so 

 intermixed with the collection of minerals, that its usefulness 

 was in great measure destroyed. The present galleries afford to 

 the Greological Collection twice the exhibiting-space which thev 

 occupied conjointhj ivith Mlnemlor/y in the old building ; there 

 are also well-lighted studies, store-rooms, and workshops for 

 carrying on the practical work of the Department, and for the 

 convenience of students and artists. 



The Geological collections were among the first to be trans- 

 ferred to the new building, their removal having occupied from 

 14th of June to 16th of October 18S0. The three principal 

 galleries, occupied by the Fossil Mammalia and Beptilia, were 

 opened to the public on the 18Lh April, 1881 ; and a penny guide 

 to those galleries was issued on that day to the public. Grallery 

 A (one of a series of top-lighted Galleries running north from 

 the Fossil Eeptile Gallery), 110 ieet in length and 40 feet in 

 breadth, has been set apart for the exhibition of t'le Fossil Fishes. 

 This group (always largely represented in the fossil state in 

 the British Museum) has lately received two splendid additions 

 by the acquisition of the famous collection of the Earl of Ennis- 

 killen, from Florence Court, Ireland, and that of the late Sir 

 Philip de Malpas Grey-Egerton, Bart., M.P., both obtained 

 within the last two years. The incorporation of these large col- 

 lections has necessitated the temporary closing of this Gallery 

 (the contents of which had been roughly arranged and ojDened 

 to the public in 1882). The acquisition of the " Egerton Col- 

 lection" added about 4300 specimens, whilst the "Enniskillen 

 Collection '" will add about 9600 more specimens to the national 

 Museum. Both collections are exceedingly rich in " types," espe- 

 cially those illustrating the works of Agassiz and the various 

 memoirs of Egerton, Traquair, Owen, Davis, Huxley, and others. 



In a narrow Gallery (parallel to Gallery A) are placed the 

 fossil Ceplialopods, probably the best and largest collection of 

 this interesting group as yet brought togetlier in any museum. 



And here it may be stated that the arrangement adopted for 

 the several classes of Eossil Organic remains has been in the first 

 instance Zoolof/ical, and subordinately strati graphical. Thus, in 

 the first cases of this gallery are placed the Dibranchiate (naked) 

 Cephalopods — Squids, Cuttles, Calamaries, &c., at once the latest 

 and most highly-organized division of the gi'oup ; whilst in the sub- 

 sequent cases (arranged in stratigraphicai order) follow the 

 Tetrabranchiate forms, such as Nautilus, Ammonites, Ceratites, 

 Goniatites, and OrfJioceras, representing the earlier and less- 

 specialized forms of shell-bearing Cephalopoda. 



The next wide gallery (corresponding to Gallery A), Gallery 

 B, is devoted to the succeeding groups of Invertebrata. Here are 

 placed the Gasterojjoda and LameUihmnchiata, occupying the 

 wall- and table-cases on one side of the gallery, and the Mollus- 



