334 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



* Stellae marinee, star-fishes, &c. - - 173 



* Fishes and their parts - - 1,555 



* Birds and their parts, eggs and nests of 



different species - - - 1,172 



* 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, 



&c. - 756 



Miscellaneous things, natural, &c. - - 2,098 



Mathematical instruments - -55 



Pictures and drawings, framed - - 471 



(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.-)- The total 



T 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. 



