156 THE ENTOMOLOaiST's HK(;ORI). 



For a crisis has arrived in the annals of the Natural History Museum 

 which concerns indirectly all botanists and geologists, and very 

 directly all zoologists, and especially those in whose interest we write, 

 the students of entomology. No one whose lot it has been to study 

 at all frequently or continuously in the Insect Department of the 

 present buildings can fail to have been struck with the lack of room 

 at the disposal of students and curators alike, and even such accom- 

 modation as exists is a mere makeshift, the rooms occupied by the 

 Entomological section having been originally intended only for store- 

 rooms. There is, of course, as things stand at present, a very good 

 site available for an extension of the Zoological portion of the Museum 

 out towards, and then parallel with. Queen's Gate, in which proper 

 accommodation for entomological collections and study might be 

 provided ; but we are now threatened with the loss of this site in 

 consequence of its being used for the erection of a new Spirit Building. 

 The present building, which it is proposed to demolish, stands on 

 land which has been already assigned to the Trustees of the British 

 Museum for the use of the Natural History Department, but which is 

 now coveted by the Science Museum, the authorities of which, backed 

 by the Board of Works, have, it seems, persuaded the Government to 

 — yveW^^fdrcihlj/ expropriate the present possessors, and hand it over 

 to them. 



This nefarious project was exposed before the Entomological 

 Society of London at their meeting on Wednesday, May 3rd, by the 

 President, Mr. Bethune-Baker, Dr. Dixey, Mr. Waterhouse, and others, 

 and the following I'esolution was passed unanimously, first by the 

 Council and afterwards by the Society, copies being sent the following- 

 day to the Official Trustees of the British Museum (consisting, oddly 

 enough, of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, and 

 the Speaker of the House of Commons), to the Prime Minister, and to 

 the President of the Board of Education, whose department is concerned 

 in the matter. 



" The Council and Fellows of the Entomological Society of Lon- 

 don have heard with grave anxiety that it has been proposed to build 

 a part of the contemplated extension of the Science Museum on land 

 belonging to the Natural History Museum. It has been represented 

 to the Society that this would involve the demolition of the Spirit 

 Building, and its re-erection between the main part of the Museum and 

 one of the public roads. 



It appears to the Society that the rebuilding of the Spirit Room in 

 this position would involve the occupation of ground which it has 

 hitherto l)een permissible to regard as availiable for the extension of 

 the main building, and particularly of the Insect Rooms, in which 

 they feel themselves justified in taking a special interest. 



They would point out that the collections of Insects contained in the 

 Natural History Museum form at present but an inadequate and incom- 

 plete representation of Entomology. Recognising as they do that the 

 rooms in question are already filled almost to their utmost capacity, and 

 that the space which can be put at the disposal of the many students 

 of this branch of Zoology has been seriously restricted of late by the 

 growth of the collections, the Society feel themselves justified in 

 expressing to the Trustees of the British Museum the hope that they 

 will take every possible step to avoid the calamity that would be implied 



