Catalogues. 25 



Catalogue of Dermaptera Saltatoria. Parts 3-5. By 1870-1874. 

 F. Walker. 1870. 



Catalogue of Heteropterous Hemiptera. Parts 4-8. By 

 F. Walker. 1871-4. 



Catalogue of Sea-pens. By Dr. Gray. 1870. 



Catalogue of Lithophytes. By Dr. Gray. 1870. 



The majority of these catalogues were of small extent, and 

 some even fragmentary. But the value of the zoological publica- 

 tions of the British Museum was generally acknowledged, on 

 account of their usefulness not only to the Museum, but to all 

 workers in systematic zoology at home and abroad ; and experi- 

 ence had shown that descriptive catalogues of a monographic 

 character, with a complete enumeration of the specimens in 

 the Museum, indicating their individual history, were the 

 most useful and the most desired. Dr. Gray fully agreed with 

 Dr. Giinther that it was the duty of the Museum to furnish 

 illustrations, whenever possible, of the new species described from 

 specimens in the Museum collection. There was now little fear 

 that the increase of the cost of production would prove to be a 

 serious obstacle, in view of the undeniable direct and indirect 

 benefits accruing from these publications to the collections. 

 They were the strongest evidence of the life and activity of a 

 Department which made every effort, not only to raise the 

 collections to the level of the status attained by science, but 

 also to contribute towards its advancement. 



Of course, no catalogue should be undertaken unless the 

 collection to be catalogued has attained to a certain degree of 

 completeness, and this was evidently the case with several collec- 

 tions, especially those of Chiroptera and of the Birds, for which, 

 fortunately, the services of very competent specialists were 

 available. 



Mr. G. E. Dobson, a surgeon in the Royal Navy, who had 

 already given much attention to the study of Chiroptera, and had 

 catalogued the specimens in the Calcutta Museum, was in England 

 about this time and ready to undertake the cataloguing of the 

 collection in the British Museum, which numbered about 2500 

 specimens. The plan of the catalogue was to be the same as 

 that of Fishes, but with illustrations. Mr. Dobson commenced 

 this work about 1873 ; owing to interruptions caused by attend- 

 ance to his duties at Netley Hospital, and by visits which he 

 paid to several continental Museums, he did not complete it 

 before 1878. This catalogue, long out of print, still stands as 



