62 Department of Zoology. 



1882-1884. the basement, along the southern side of the building, with an 

 area more than twice that of the room at Bloomsbury. The 

 rooms were lit by windows on one side only, but afforded 

 sufficient working accommodation for the staff and students. 

 The different parts of the collection, as well as of the entomo- 

 logical Library, could be segregated so as to be near the several 

 workers, and the Attendants engaged in setting insects were 

 under the direct supervision of the Assistants. The only 

 difficulty experienced at first arose from the heating apparatus, 

 which for some time caused the temperature to rise so as to 

 endanger the preservation of the specimens. 



In the construction of the Spirit Building the principal object, 

 to provide a safe fireproof store-room for all the specimens 

 preserved in spirit, was kept in view. It was a simple 

 quadrangular brick building, 119 ft. long and 47 ft. broad, with 

 a flat cemented roof. Its greater part consists of the store 

 room, which is separated by a passage from the suite of work- 

 rooms, and not heated. A row of side-lights above the wall- 

 cases^ and some 15 ft. above the outside ground, admit sufficient 

 light for the arrangement of the bottles, but not for examination 

 or research, for which the work-rooms have been designed. 



The wall- and upright cases are 10 ft. in height and have an 

 aggregate length of 740 ft. ; in order to preserve the specimens 

 from the deteriorating effects of light, the cases are provided 

 with wooden doors. The floor of the building is occupied by 

 cross-rows alternately of 10 ft. cases, and of lower cases 4 ft. in 

 height, which serve as a substitute for tables, and in which the 

 animals other than Reptiles and Fishes are arranged ; to economise 

 space these lower cases are shut by sliding doors. 



With the object of combating an outbreak of fire a number 

 of hydrants, with sprinklers at the end, project at short intervals 

 from above the cases into the room ; the water can ,be turned on 

 from the outside of the building, so that cases and room can be 

 flooded without delay. Besides, a row of cast-iron gratings is 

 let into the cemented floor, and runs along the base of the cases, 

 permitting spirit which would be set free from bursting bottles 

 to flow into the space below the building, which is filled with 

 sand and shingle to the depth of several feet. 



A room in the basement was furnished for the reception of 

 those books of the Departmental Library which were not dis- 

 tributed among the work-rooms of the Assistants, and served also 

 as an office for the Zoological Librarian and his Attendant. Five 

 of the Assistants had separate rooms in close proximity to the 



