THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XLIV.] JUNE, 1911. [No. 577 



THE NATURA.L HISTORY MUSEUM FOR 

 NATURALISTS. 



Surely in no other country in the world would Natural 

 History be placed officially in the same category as Chemistry or 

 Physics. Yet that is apparently the classification favoured by 

 H.M. Government of the present day and the Office of Works 

 whose duty it is to look after the structural arrangements of our 

 particular museum at South Kensington. As every entomologist 

 is or ought to be aware, certain cellars, offices, and passages in 

 the basement of this fine building are consecrated to the entomo- 

 logical collections. For years past these collections have been 

 steadily growing in bulk, until, with the advent of the Walsing- 

 ham Gift, the periodical library had to be ''moved on," and 

 every available square foot apportioned for cabinets, leaving 

 but a trivial margin of elbow-room for the assistants whose 

 work is done in these subterranean regions. By these, as by 

 every other member of the Museum staff, however, this inade- 

 quate space has been regarded as a temporary shift. The day 

 would surely come when the Trustees would be empowered to 

 extend their borders on the remaining vacant sites formally 

 allotted the Natural History Museum in 1899. That was then 

 on the eve of the war in South Africa. With the campaign in 

 progress, all hope of extension was abandoned for the time 

 being ; the staff was reduced, and the small sums saved thereby 

 devoted to national needs ! For ten years and more, therefore, 

 the extension scheme has been hung up, and now there seems 

 every reason to anticipate that it may be " drawn and quartered 

 as well " ! In other words, acting upon the advice of Sir Henry 

 Roscoe and certain scientists concerned for the success of the 

 projected " Science Museum," the Office of Works has decided 

 to re-take the whole available " extension " space along the 

 north side of the Natural History Museum ; to allocate a part 

 of it to the " Science Museum," and to use the remainder for 



ENTOM. — JUNE, 1911. 



