on resigning office, 27 October, 1890. xv 



The foreign department of the Museum is not extensive, consisting 

 for the most part of single specimens which have been presented at 

 different times by different individuals. It contains, however, a small 

 collection of reptiles presented by Mr Thomas Bell. It is also rich in 

 Ichthyological specimens; having been presented some years back with 

 a collection of fish made at Madeira by the Rev. It. T. Lowe ; subse- 

 quently, with another collection made in China by the Rev. G. Vachell; 

 and yet more recently, with the entire collection of Fish brought 

 home from South America and some other portions of the globe by 

 C. Darwin, Esq., of Christ's College, and accompanying Naturalist in 

 the late voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy. 

 The whole of the fish above alluded to, as well as those belonging to the 

 British collection, are preserved in spirits. They amount to several 

 hundred species ; and many of those comprised in the Darwin collection 

 are entirely new. Altogether, they constitute a highly valuable as well 

 as interesting portion of the Society's Museum. 



Independently of the collections above enumerated, the Philosophical 

 Society has made it an object to establish a separate collection of the 

 principal animals found in Cambridgeshire. This is a step of the utility 

 of which there can be no doubt. Local collections of this nature tend 

 to illustrate the Faunas of particular districts; and local Faunas offer 

 the best materials for completing our knowledge of the Zoology of the 

 whole kingdom. They also throw light upon the geographical distribu- 

 tion of animals. In proportion to the number of places in which such 

 collections are established, they assist in determining the extreme range 

 of the different species, as well as the districts to which they are ordi- 

 narily confined. In this department, however, the Birds of Cambridge- 

 shire and a few of its Mammalia are alone as yet fitted up for public 

 inspection ; but considerable collections have been made in the other 

 classes, which are destined one day to take their place in the Museum 

 also. 



The Museum of the Society, and that part of it in particular which 

 has been just alluded to, has been probably instrumental in exciting 

 much interest in the University in the science of Zoology, and diffusing 

 amongst its members a taste for such pursuits. Nor is the surrounding 

 neighbourhood at all unfavourable for the researches of the naturalist. 

 On the contrary, Cambridgeshire may be considered as rich in animal 

 productions. From combining within itself a considerable variety of 

 soil and situation, it adapts itself to the habits of very different species. 

 The fens in particular are inhabited by many rare aquatic birds and 

 insects ; and some of these, previous to the introduction of the present 

 system of drainage, were in considerable abundance. It may perhaps 

 be interesting to mention, that the entire number of vertebrate animals 

 found in Cambridgeshire amount to 281. Of these 38 belong to the 

 class Mammalia ; 204 to that of Birds ; 9 to that of Reptiles ; and 32 

 to that of Fish. The invertebrate animals require further investigation; 

 but they probably exceed 9,000, of which the greater portion belong to 

 the division of Annulosa. 



The Society has a small collection of minerals and fossils ; but there 



