Introduction. xi 



Mineralogy, and Zoology is narrated in the work now produced 

 by the combined authorship of the various responsible officers of 

 the Museum. The history given is not merely a general one but 

 forms an important record of the smaller as well as the larger 

 collections which have been absorbed into the great series. Each 

 section of the work devoted to one of the four Departments as 

 at present constituted, viz. : Botany, Geology, Mineralogy, and 

 Zoology, commences with a general sketch of the history of the 

 Department. This is followed by a chronological account of the 

 yearly additions to its collections up to (and in some instances 

 beyond) the year 1900, and further by an alphabetical list of 

 donors or of previous owners of collections now embodied in those 

 of the Department which have importance either because they 

 contain type-specimens or because of the scientific or historical 

 associations of the name cited. In treating of the Department 

 of Zoology it has been found convenient on account of the great 

 size and variety of the collections to break up the account into a 

 number of separate sections, each describing, according to the 

 plan above explained, the collections representing a separate class 

 or section of the Animal Kingdom. 



The genesis of these several existing Departments and the 

 succession of their administrators are briefly as follows : 



The first appointments of Officers to the newly-constituted 

 Museum were made in 1756, when Dr. Gowin Knight was chosen 

 as Principal Librarian, with three Keepers under him, viz : Dr. 

 M. Maty for the Printed Books, Dr. C. Morton for the Manu- 

 scripts, and Mr. James Empson for the remaining collections, 

 entitled " Natural History Department." This Department, 

 however, included all the Antiquities, Coins, and Medals. 

 Empson had as his successive Assistant Keepers : H. Rimius 

 (died 1757), W. Hudson (retired 1758), and the Rev. A. J. 

 Planta (transferred to Printed Books, 1765). On Empson's 

 death in 1765, Maty was transferred from the Keepership of the 

 Department of Books to that of the Department of Natural 

 History, his Assistant Keeper being the celebrated Dr. Solander, 

 who had already been employed in the work of cataloguing from 

 1763. Solander in 1768 obtained permission, on finding a sub- 



