Q.H1 



PREFACE. 



THE present history of the collections preserved in the four 

 Natural History Departments of the British Museum has been 

 produced at my suggestion, by the officers in charge of the 

 collections. Mr. B. B. Woodward has written the history of 

 the libraries ; Mr. George Murray, assisted by Mr. Britten, that 

 of the Department of Botany ; Dr. Arthur Smith Woodward 

 with valuable help from the late keeper, Dr. Henry Woodward, 

 and from Dr. Bather, assistant keeper, that of the Department 

 of Geology ; and Mr. Fletcher that of the Department of Minerals. 

 A second volume will contain the history of the collections in 

 the Department of Zoology to which Mr. Edgar Smith, Dr. 

 Bowdler Sharpe, Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, Mr. Boulenger, Mr. 

 Oldfield Thomas, Mr. Jeffrey Bell, Mr. Pocock, Mr. Kirkpatrick, 

 Sir George Hampson, and Mr. Lydekker, have each contributed 

 a special section. 



The possibility of producing such a history as the present is 

 a remarkable evidence of the care and efficiency with which the 

 records of the Museum have been kept during the past century. 

 The value of the book to workers in the various branches of 

 Natural History will be very great. It not only furnishes an 

 interesting record of the names of hundreds who have con- 

 tributed to build up our science during the nineteenth century, 

 but it will prove to be of assistance to investigators who are 

 anxious to discover the present depository of specimens or 

 collections referred to in old publications and to compare then 



512997 



LIBRAKI 



