Growth of the Collection. 65 



and collectors worked for and with him. He fitted out 1884-1885. 

 expeditions, with a staff of collectors and taxidermists, to 

 many different parts of the empire; he acquired, besides, 

 several important collections formed by other well-known Indian 

 ornithologists. The value of this collection, therefore, should not 

 be measured merely by the number of specimens which it con- 

 tained, but by the judgment which determined their selection, by 

 the history attached to many of them, and by the completeness 

 of the several series. This was fully recognised by the Trustees. 

 They complied with the distinctly expressed wish of the donor, 

 that Mr. Sharpe should be sent to Simla to receive and supervise 

 the packing of the collection. Mr. Sharpe was absent on this 

 service four months, and the expenses connected with his journey, 

 with the packing and freight of the eighty-two cases, amounted 

 to 873. 



5331 specimens of American Birds were received from Messrs. 

 Godman and Salvin as the first instalment of a donation which, 

 when completed, will perhaps not be surpassed, with regard to 

 its intrinsic value, even by the donation mentioned above. 

 It comprises the materials for the volumes on Birds in the 

 donors' magnificent work, " Biologia CentraH- Americana." In 

 order to render their collection available as soon as possible for 

 general study, and more especially for the purpose of the 

 " Catalogue of Birds," they offered to transfer to the British 

 Museum such parts as had been completed in their work. All 

 the specimens were most accurately labelled, so that their 

 incorporation into the general collection entailed no more work 

 than the mechanical labour of distributing them in their proper 

 places in the cabinets. 



Besides these collections were received 3012 Birds as the two 

 first instalments from the Sclater Collection and 5041 from other 

 sources. The influx of such a large number of specimens, by 

 which the study-series of Birds was nearly doubled, rendered a 

 rearrangement of the whole necessary. In order to gain more 

 room, the Half Gallery, which originally was intended for a 

 general study, but to which students had not taken kindly, was, 

 with the adjoining corridor, joined to the Bird Room, and fitted 

 with cabinets. Also the staff allotted to this section had to be 

 strengthened to assist in the rearrangement. 



A collection of about 10,000 Coleoptera formed by the late 

 Mr. F. A. de Eoepstorff in the Nicobar and Andaman Islands, 

 was presented by his widow. 



A collection of 7851 Geodephagous Coleoptera from Central 



