12-t BEPOET— 1888. 



town. All were in Upper Bonlder clay, containing more sand than 

 usual, which must have been derived from the beds below the Upper 

 Keuper sandstone, which extends for some miles on that side of Leicester, 

 the ' drift ' varying from G ft. to as many inches in different places. The 

 blocks were associated with a unique find (as far as this county is con- 

 cerned), viz., a huge tin-bone, U ft. 6 in. long by 1 ft. 8 in. wide, of some 

 species of whale. This was under about 4 ft. of drift of the Upper 

 Bonlder clay. Nearly all the animal tissue had been taken out of the 

 bone, owing to its lying so little below the surface in the sandy drift. 

 No other bones or teeth of the whale were found. It has been placed in 

 the Leicester Museum. 



All syenite from Groby or Markfield, distant about 4 miles. Height 

 above the sea 210 ft. 



Report of the Committee, consistinrj of Professor Valentine B.a.ll, 

 Mr. H. G. FoRDHAM, Professor Haddon, Professor Hillhouse, 

 Mr. John Hopkinson, Dr. Macfarlane, Professor Milnes Mar- 

 shall, JNIr. F. T. Mott (Secretary), Dr. Traquair, and Dr. H. 

 Woodward, reappointed at Manchester for the purpose of pre- 

 paring a further Report upon the Provincial Museums of the 

 United Kingdom. 



The Report of this Committee which was presented last year dealt 

 mainly with the statistics of museums throughoixt the United Kingdom. 

 The Committee was reappointed for the purpose of considering the ideal 

 to which provincial museums should endeavour to attain, and of suggest- 

 ing practical methods for approaching that ideal. 



The provincial museums now existing may be classified roughly into 

 the following six groups, viz. : — 



1. Museums of Science and Art on a large scale, supported by Govern- 

 ment, as at Edinburgh and Dublin. 



2. Municipal Kate-supported Free Museums. 



3. University Museums. 



4. Teaching Museums attached to schools and colleges. 

 6. Museums belonging to local societies. 



6. Proprietary Museums. 



Of these typical groups the first must always be few in number, while 

 the third, fourth, fifth and sixth have special objects, in pursuit of which 

 they may properly diverge from any fixed standard. 



The second type, the Municipal Rate-supported Free Museum, is 

 already numerous, and is becoming annually more so. Its objects 

 include those of all the others, and it may fairly be taken as a standard 

 by which others may be gauged. 



We propose, therefore, to consider what is the complete ideal which, 

 the authorities of a free rate-supported museum should keep before 



