The Collection in 1856. 5 



holding some eighty skins of birds of the size of a sparrow. The 1856-1861. 



boxes filled wall-cases in and outside the Ornithologist's room, 



and although convenient of access to the Assistant in charge of 



the collection, there was scarcely room for a visitor or worker 



who wished to consult it. However, it was well arranged and 



named, and G. It. Gray had prepared a MS. list, which, however, 



was never published.* 



4. Reptiles, Batrachians, and Fishes. The bulk of these 

 collections was preserved in spirit, and kept in three rooms of 

 the basement, aggregating a length of 110 feet with a width of 

 17 feet. The bottles were packed on the shelves of high wall- 

 cases as closely as possible. The conditions of light and tempera- 

 ture were most suitable for the preservation of the specimens, 

 but less so for the comfort and health of the persons compelled 

 to work in that locality, f The Chelonians, Saurians, and part 

 of the venomous Snakes had been catalogued by Dr. Gray, and 

 therefore were in orderly arrangement and named, with the 

 exception of the numerous additions, which soon exceeded the 

 specimens catalogued. The remainder of the collection was 

 stowed away without any attempt at arrangement, and although 

 some historical collections of Fishes, like those of W. Yarrell, 

 E. Parnell, Sir J. Richardson,^ etc., had been deposited in the 

 Museum, only a small proportion bore the names given by the 

 authors. At the beginning of this period (1858) the Reptiles 

 and Batrachians numbered about 7000, and the Fishes about 

 16,000 specimens. 



5. Exigencies of space rather than the adoption of a distinct 

 principle led from an early period to the formation of a study- 

 series in the rapidly growing collection of Mollusca. This series 

 occupied then, as it does now, the drawers of the table-cases, 

 in the glazed tops of which were arranged the very liberal 

 exhibition series. The mode of preservation of the shells was not 

 satisfactory ; the specimens were gummed on tablets, generally 



* His " Handlist " is an enumeration of species, not of specimens. 



t One of the numerous springs which in former years supplied many 

 houses in Bloomsbury with excellent water made its presence below the 

 floor of the spirit-rooms felt in a very inconvenient manner : the stone- 

 liags of the floor were at times covered with damp or water, causing the 

 wood-work at the bottom of the cases to rot, and destroying unfortunately 

 many of the labels on the bottles a serious injury which had to be 

 checked by adopting the plan of painting the labels in oil-colours. 



J The zoological collection at the Haslar Hospital, which contained 

 the Fishes of the voyage of the Erebus and Terror, as well as other types, 

 was transferred to the Museum in 1855; the specimens arrived without 

 labels and many were in a very bad condition, as for economy's sake a 

 solution of chloride of zinc had been used instead of alcohol ! 



