334 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
* Stellee marine, star-fishes, &c. - . 173 
* Fishes and their parts - - - 1,555 
* Birds and their parts, eggs and nests of 
" different species 9 . + ivi qdyl 2 
* Quadrupeds - - - - 1,886 
* Vipers, serpents, &c. - - - 521 
* Insects, &e. - - = - - 5,439 
Vegetables - - - - 12,506 
Hortus Siccus, or volumes of dried plants - 334 
Humana, as calculi, anatomical preparations, | 
&. - : - - - 756 
Miscellaneous things, natural, &c. - - 2,098 
Mathematical instruments -  - - 55 
Pictures and drawings, framed - - A471 
(235.) Edwards further adds, “ Every single par- 
ticular of all the above articles are numbered and 
entered by name, with short accounts of them, in 
thirty-eight volumes in folio, and eight in quarto.” 
It would be an interesting enquiry to ascertain how 
many of the zoological subjects, originally in this 
vast Museum, are now in existence.t The total 

+ A few years ago, when the zoological collections of the 
Museum formed the subject of a debate in the House of Com- 
mons, and some censures were cast upon the little care then 
bestowed upon them, it was positively asserted by a ministe- 
rial member, since elevated to the peerage, that Sir H. Sloane’s 
insects were all in good preservation. And this assertion was 
suffered to remain uncontradicted, from sheer ignorance in 
the opposition members, who appeared to know as little about 
the matter under discussion, as if it related to the Museum of 
China. The fact being, that no insects, as then preserved, 
could by any possibility, have existed so long. 
