Arrangement of the Collection. 31 



their eggs or the young belonging to the nest, should be taken, 1875-1878. 

 and that the actual surroundings which determined the selection 

 of the site by the birds should be preserved. The interest 

 shown by the public in these groups, and the amount of instruc- 

 tion conveyed by them, proved fully to justify this mode of 

 exhibition ; it has been followed in other large Museums. By 

 the help of friends resident in the country additions have been 

 made year by year to this collection, until now it is nearing 

 completeness.* 



Beptiles. Mr. O'Shaughnessy completed his general arrange- 

 ment of the accessions to the Lizards. The accessions to the 

 Snakes were incorporated, and periodical reports on the new 

 species published. 



Fishes. Beside the usual routine work, a systematic MS. 

 list of all the species described since the publication of the 

 Catalogue was compiled by Mr. O'Shaughnessy ; an important 

 work, by which not only the acquisition of desiderata can be 

 regulated, but by which also the determination of the new 

 additions is greatly facilitated. A very large and well-preserved 

 example of the Basking Shark was temporarily deposited in the 

 Mammalian Saloon, its large size proving an insurmountable 

 obstacle to its being placed in the British Gallery, "f 



The incorporation of the accessions to the Shell collection 

 made steady progress ; Mr. P. S. Abraham took up the study of 

 Nudibranchs, the study-series being arranged by him, while a 

 series of 53 glass-models of representative forms was acquired for 

 exhibition. 



Mr. Miers devoted himself chiefly to the arrangement of 

 Brachyurous Crustaceans, besides attending to reports on various 

 groups or accessions. 



* The notice of this series must not be passed without acknowledging the 

 Keeper's indebtedness to Lord Walsingham, who gave him every encourage- 

 ment by entering fully into the spirit of this new departure in exhibiting 

 specimens in the Museum and supplying him with the materials for a great 

 number of groups of birds resident at Merton. The Keeper also was most 

 fortunate in obtaining the help of Mr. H. Mintorn, Mrs. E. Moggridge and 

 Miss E. D. Emett (now Mrs. V. H. Blackman) for modelling the perishable 

 portions of the surroundings of the nests. An account of the history and 

 extent of the series is given in Good Words ; and Mr. Ogilvie-Grant's " Guide 

 to the Gallery of Birds," published by the Trustees in 1905 (Second Edition, 

 1909), contains a list of the collection at the present time ; the descriptions 

 are reproductions of the explanatory labels. 



t In the new Museum it was the most conspicuous object in the Fish 

 Gallery. It was a fully adult British specimen, of the male sex, 28 feet 

 long, and it was in a perfect state of preparation. It had been referred to 

 in various Ichthyological works. In later years it was replaced by a female 

 specimen from Norway. 



