Growth of the Collection. 13 



successor's Keepership, in F. J. Bell's Catalogue of British 1856-1861. 

 Echinodermata. 



As the catalogues prepared by means of outside help have 

 already been mentioned, only the following, which were the 

 work of the permanent staff within this period, remain to be 

 enumerated : 



Catalogue of the Mammalia and Birds of New Guinea. By 

 J. E. Gray and G. R. Gray. 1859. 12. 



Catalogue of the Birds of the Tropical Islands of the Pacific 

 Ocean. By G. R. Gray. 1859. 12. 



List of the Specimens of Birds Psittacidie and Columbae. 

 By G. R. Gray. 1859 and 1856. 12. 



Guide to the Systematic Distribution of Mollusca. Part I. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray. 1857. 8 (not strictly a Catalogue, arid 

 discontinued). 



Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects. Parts 4-7. By 



F. Smith. 1856-9. 12. 



List of Lepidopterous Insects. Part I. PapilionicUe. By 



G. R. Gray. 1856. 12 (not continued). 



GROWTH OF THE COLLECTION. 

 (1856-61.) 



In these six years close upon 200,000 specimens were added 

 to the collection, with an annual average of 33,200 specimens. 

 By far the larger proportion were donations, and a still larger 

 proportion were Insecta. 



The sources whence the most important portions of this 

 increase were derived were the following : 



When it was determined to break up the Museum of the 

 late East India Company, hitherto located in the old East 

 India House, a great number of the specimens, of all classes, 

 were by order of the Secretary of State for India at once 

 transferred to the custody of the Trustees of the British Museum ; 

 the bulk of the collections followed some years later. The 

 present transfer comprised much historically important material, 

 and numerous examples from the Sunda Islands, the fauna of 

 which was very poorly represented in the British Museum. 



Several medical men, serving on board H.M.SS., followed 

 the example of MacGillivray, who for so many years had con- 

 tributed to our knowledge of the Pacific Fauna, particularly 

 F. M. Rayner, surgeon on H.M.S. Herald, and Dr. David Lyall, 



