598 KEPORT— 1880. 



vincial Museums. On tlie other hand, our invertebrate series, especially of Mollusks 

 and Insects, will always offer a certain number of well-preserved duplicate specimens 

 and a sufficient inducement for Provincial Museums to select their desiderata. 



It has been su^^gested that, as the British Museum has correspondents and col- 

 lectors in almost every part of the globe, and has, therefore, greater facilities for 

 obtaining specimens than any other institution, it should systematically acquire 

 duplicates, and form a central repository, from which Provincial Museums could 

 draw their supplies. If the necessary funds to carry out this scheme were granted, 

 I cannot see any objection to it on the part of the British Museum, which, on 

 the contrary, would probably derive some benefit. But there is' one, and in my 

 opinion a very serious, objection, viz. that this scheme would open the door to the 

 employment of curators of inferior qualifications ; it would relieve the curator of a 

 Provincial Museum of an important part of his duty, viz. to study for himself the 

 requirements of his Museum, the means of meeting them, and to become well ac- 

 quainted with the objects themselves. A curator who has to be satisfied with the 

 mechanical work of displaying and preserving objects acquired, prepared and named 

 for him by others, takes less interest in the progress of his Museum than he whose 

 duty it would be to form a collection ; he is not the person in whose charge the 

 Museum will flourish. 



In speaking of the claims of Provincial Museums on the National Museum, the 

 kindred Colonial institutions should not be forgotten. We owe to them much of our 

 knowledge of the Natural History of the Colonies ; they are the repositories of the 

 collections of the temporary and permanent surveys which have been instituted in 

 connection with them, and they have concentrated and preserved the results of 

 manifold individual efforts which otherwise most likely would have been lost to 

 science. The British Museum has derived great benefit from the friendly relations 

 which we have kept up with them ; and, therefore, they are deserving of aU the 

 aid which we can possibly give them, and which may lessen the peculiar difficulties 

 Tinder which they labour in consequence of their distance from Europe. 



I am painfully aware that in the remarks which I have had the honour of 

 making before you, I have tried the patience of some, and not satisfied the expecta- 

 tions of others. But so much I may claim : — that the views which I have expressed 

 before you as my own are the results of many years' experience, and therefore 

 should be worthy of your consideration ; and that I am guided by no other desire 

 than that of seeing the Museums in this country taking their proper place in regard 

 to Biology, and as one of the most important aids in the instruction of the 

 people. 



The following Reports and Papers were read : — 



1. Beport on the present State of onr Knoioledge of the Crustacea. Part V. 

 By C. Spence Bate, P.i?.^— See Reports, p. 230. 



2. Beport of a Oommitfee for conducting Palceontological and Zoological 

 Besearches in Mexico. — See Reports, p. 254. 



3. Beport of the ' Close Time ' Committee. — See Reports, p. 257. 



4. Beport of the Committee on the Zoological Station at Naples.-. — See 



Reports, p. 161. ... 



