Director' s Annual Report. 25 



Bthnology. I quote from the report to me of Mr. J. F. G. 

 Stokes, the Curator: 



"The number of specimens received during the year is satis- 

 factory and well up to the average, but not as large as in the 

 previous 3^6 ar. 



"Through an anonymous friend of Mr. Henry Holmes the 

 Museum has been presented with the Helms collections of ethno- 

 logical and entomological material. The former portion , which 

 concerns my department, consists of a remarkably fine series of 

 Australian and Melanesian specimens, including a few from Micro- 

 nesia and Polynesia. The main portion of the ethnological 

 collection was gathered b}^ Dr. Richard Helms in western and 

 south Australia where he went as the naturalist of the Elder 

 Exploring Expedition in 1892. It was described and illustrated 

 in Dr. Helms' report on the anthropology of the expedition, in the 

 Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, and is a 

 valuable acquisition on this account. The majority of the other 

 specimens are well authenticated and bear a locality label or an 

 inscription naming the sources from which Dr. Helms received 

 them. It is a good collection, and has been made with judgment, 

 and the Museum is very grateful to Mr. Holmes' anonymous friend. 



"Other friends, to the number of fifteen, gave tangible evi- 

 dence of their interest, as may be seen in the lists appended. As 

 before, when any of the curators have been in the field, they have 

 gathered in all that the}- could that was of interest to the Museum, 

 and we have all helped each other's department in this way. 

 The specimens received during the year have been fairly numer- 

 ous, but do not deserve special mention. No large collections 

 have been purchased during the year. An average number of 

 commoner specimens have been bought at the door, but the curio 

 stores have not offered anything worth securing. 



"Mr. Henriques has added forty-three specimens to his collec- 

 tion already on loan, the most important of which is the small 

 breadfruit-wood surf board, found in the cave at Hookena with 

 the sled described last year. The coconut scraper mentioned in 

 the list was made from a large cone shell, and is the first Hawaiian 

 specimen of the kind to be reported. 



"Two trips were made in the field, and though not necessarily 

 in connection with my department the trips yielded fruit in the 



[141] 



