MUSEUMS. 11 



Zoological Depaktmbnt. 

 (a) General. 



During the past year there has been no change in the number or 

 duties of the staff. Mr. Herbert C. Robinson, however, who had 

 volunteered his services at the end of 1896, has been engaged on the 

 temporary staff. His whole time has been devoted to the Catalogue of 

 the Birds, and working in conjunction with the Director, he has com- 

 pleted the naming and labelling of the Parrots (Psittaci) ; the Cuckoos 

 and Plantain-eaters (Cuculi) ; the Woodpeckers (Pici), etc. Of these the 

 Catalogue of the Psittaci has been published in the first number of the 

 Bulletin of the Museums ; while that of the Cuckoos ( Cuculidce) and 

 Plantain-eaters (Musophagidce) is now in the press, and will be published 

 early in the year (1898). 



A few duplicates of mounted Mammals, Birds, Fishes, and Invertebrates 

 were presented to the Catholic Blind Asylum, Brunswick Road. 



A small collection of duplicate Minerals was sent to the Board School, 

 Croft, near Warrington. 



(b) Arrangement. 



The re-arrangement of the Zoological Collections in the room which 

 (when the proposed extension of the Museums is completed) will be the 

 commencement of the continuous Gallery destined to contain the 

 Vertebrates, has now been completed. This room is devoted to Man 

 and the Simian Anthropoidea, viz. : — the Chimpanzees, the Gorillas, the 

 Orang-utans and the Gibbons. The new series of skulls, casts and 

 photographic enlargements, illustrating the various races of mankind — 

 the Caucasian, the Mongolian and the Melanesian — which still retains 

 its popularity, has been further extended during the year. Further re- 

 arrangement is, however, in abeyance for the present, and until the new 

 Extension, which is now under construction, has been completed. 



In the Invertebrate Galleries it has been impossible to undertake any 

 very special re-arrangement. Several of the groups of the Insecta have 

 been re-arranged in new drawers by the Zoological Assistants, by 

 whom also the numerous species added to the Museum during the 

 year, both of Vertebrates and Invertebrates, have been determined and 

 catalogued. Many Spirit and Formal preparations have, in addition, 

 been made by them for the various exhibition galleries. 



