NOTES ON THE DORSET COUNTY MUSEUM. 27 



happy to state that it is "a loan " no longer ; it was 

 purchased by the Council last year. The principal items 

 are the stone mould for casting bronze celts, the leg of a 

 stool made of Kimmeridge shale, three pieces of gold ring 

 money, and a massive bronze neck tore. Another example 

 of Kimmeridge shale manufacture has been given by Rev. 

 R. Grosvenor Bartelot ; the material is exceptionally hard, 

 it is of conical shape, and partly hollowed, and is figured in 

 Hutchins' " History of Dorset " and " Papers of the Purbeck 

 Society." In 1906 we purchased a very fine Roman sword 

 handle, or " grip," of bone ; it was found in Dorchester 

 during building operations, at the usual depth for Roman 

 relics, and not far from a Roman pavement. It was sub- 

 mitted to Dr. C. H. Reed, who thought it sufficiently valuable 

 to make a cast of it for the British Museum. It was also 

 exhibited at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, and is 

 figured in their Proceedings, April, 1906. A specimen of the 

 same general design, but inferior in size and appearance, is 

 figured in Archaeologia, Vol. XLV., p. 251. 



In connection with the geological side of the Museum, the 

 most important undertaking has been the scientific and 

 critical examination of certain series of fossils by our late 

 Vice-President, Mr. W. H. Hudleston. He devoted many 

 months to the work, re-arranging and re-naming where neces- 

 sary, replacing inferior specimens with others from his own 

 collection, and completing a series where gaps occurred. The 

 one acquisition that stands out pre-eminently for notice 

 in this department is the Chelonian skull, presented by Sir 

 J. C. Robinson in 1909, and described and figured at page 143, 

 Vol. XXX. of the Proceedings Dorset Field Club. Dr. Smith 

 Woodward reported it to be of great rarity, and adds that 

 " only one other such skull appears to have been met with in 

 the Purbeck Beds of Swanage ; the discovery of a second 

 skull is, therefore, of much interest." 



Although I have mentioned only a very few acquisitions 

 to-day, it must be understood that during the five years, 

 nearly every department has been enriched by gifts, or 



