Grants for Annual Expenditure. 15 



Mazatlan Collection (8800 shells), a second consignment of 1856-1861. 

 E. Chilly's Jamaican Shells, and last, but not the least valuable, 

 a series of 842 British Mbllusca named by Joshua Alder himself, 

 were presented. 



Every other section received additions, but they were of 

 considerably less extent and intrinsic value and cannot be 

 enumerated here.* 



GRANTS FOR ANNUAL EXPENDITURE. 

 (1856-61.) 



The grants for expenditure were very uniform in these six 

 years. They amounted to 1500 per annum for purchases, 

 700 for " preparing specimens," including spirit, glass-jars, 

 camphor, etc., 1000 for printing catalogues and remuneration 

 of the persons (not on the staff) preparing them, and 25 for 

 the purchase of books of reference for the small departmental 

 library. 



* More detailed information is given in the Keeper's reports in the 

 " Statement of Progress " annually laid before the House of Commons 

 and printed by their order. One of the Keeper's duties is to supply 

 the Board of Trustees with detailed monthly reports, in which not 

 only the different branches of the Departmental collections, but also the 

 share of the Assistants in the work, receive due attention. But the only 

 vehicle by which the Keeper of a Department could convey to the outside 

 world an idea of the progress of, and of the work on, the collections under 

 his charge, was his Report in the annual Parliamentary Return. How- 

 ever, Dr. Gray does not seem to have desired to go beyond his monthly 

 reports to the Trustees, or to awaken among wider circles, at home and in 

 the Colonies, that sympathy with his efforts to increase the utility of the 

 collections which is so useful in every public institution. His Parliamen- 

 tary Reports therefore contained information in the most condensed form 

 and of the most general character, and were usually contained in not much 

 more than one or two folio pages. Dr. Giinther gradually introduced more 

 detail, specifying the several branches, and frequently referring to their 

 needs as well as their progress. He also particularised the published contri- 

 butions to science emanating from the collections in the Museum, beside the 

 official catalogues. In this form the Parliamentary Reports, while they 

 attained the immediate object for which they were prepared, serve now 

 as a reliable guide in preparing a history of the development of the 

 Department. 



Another scarcely less important source of information is the Depart- 

 mental correspondence. Dr. Gray did not take much care of his correspond- 

 ence, and preserved but a small portion of it, more especially his early 

 correspondence with foreign workers. His successor kept not only all letters 

 received (except those referring to trivial matters), but also copies of his 

 own. With the growth of the Department, this correspondence occupied 

 much of the Keeper's time, as the principle (adopted for the whole of the 

 establishment), that the conduct of Departmental affairs should be solely 

 in the hands of the responsible head, was strictly adhered to. The corre- 

 spondence of each year was arranged in alphabetical order and bound in 

 a separate volume. 



