1890.] Address. 49 



It may not be out of place to note the importance of the work of 

 provincial and local Museums being confined, as far as possible, to the 

 complete illustration of the products of their own particular provinces 

 or localities. This should be their primary object, in order that students 

 desii'ous of consulting the collections may at once feel sure that the 

 exhibits belong to that locality, and to no other. This system, no doubt, 

 entails some loss of educational power, but if objects from other localities 

 are admitted, their place of production or origin should be very dis. 

 tinctly marked upon them and, if possible, they should be kept quite 

 apart from the local collections. 



Indian Museum. This great institution, with which our Society is 

 so intimately connected, continues its work in the directions which have 

 been noticed in previous addresses from this chair. You will be glad to 

 hear that the new extension in Sudder Street, for the accommodation of 

 the Ethnological, Economic and Art collections, taken over from the 

 Government of Bengal, is making x'apid progress towards completion, 

 and, it is hoped, may be ready for the reception of the collections in the 

 course of a few months. 



The Museum was visited during the year 1888-89 by 393,311 per- 

 sons, at a cost-rate per person of about 2*6 annas, inclusive of the 

 Economic Section. 



The publications issued by the Trustees during the year have been 

 almost exclusively entomological and include Part I. of a Monograph of 

 Oriental Gicadidoi, by Mr. W. L. Distant. This work is illustrated by 

 plates which will be of service to workers in India in the determination 

 of their collections, while the account that is given of each species is in- 

 tended to dispense with the tedious references to obscure publications 

 hitherto required in studying this group of insects. The part deals with 

 28 species. 



The first part of a ^^ Catalogue of the Mantodea," by Mr. Wood- 

 Mason, has been issued. This work, which deals with 87 species, 

 is illustrated with numerous woodcuts, and includes the results of the 

 attention which its writer has for many years devoted to this small but 

 interesting family of Orthojptera. The second part is making good 

 progress. 



The Catalogue of the Moths of India, by Mr. E. C. Gotes and Col. 

 Swinhoe, noticed in the addresses of the past two years, has at length 

 been completed with the issue of parts V, VI and VII. with Index, which 

 have appeared during the year. This Catalogue gives the synonymy and 

 geographical distribution, so far as it is known, of the Moths that have 

 been described as occurring in India and Ceylon. It includes some 5000 

 species and is a valuable contribution to Indian Entomology. 



