200 



which could only arise from a complete ignorance of facts. I am per- 

 fectly aware of the readiness with which the Trustees have at all 

 times employed extraneous aid in the various departments. As 

 regards the Entomological portion >of the collections, I am ignorant 

 of a single instance in which the Trustees have not most readily 

 consented to any proposal offered to their consideration as being 

 likely to render any portion of the collection more efficient for its 

 purposes. 



The bar to what has been urged as being so highly desirable, in 

 appointing assistants to the Entomological department, lies in another 

 direction. Scientific departments require experienced Entomologists, 

 and cannot at once work well, to which no candidate over twenty- 

 five years of age can be admitted. 



It is an extremely easy task to show that scientific departments 

 require totally different regulations, but until this is duly impressed 

 upon those who have the control of such affairs it is quite hopeless to 

 expect the attainment of the end that every Entomologist must so 

 earnestly desire. 



I must now call your attention to other important and valuable pre- 

 sentations made to the national collections. The Council of the Lin- 

 nean Society have placed the valuable Banksian collection in the 

 British Museum : this liberal gift I am sure you will all duly appre- 

 ciate, and the opportunity of consulting it will be embraced by many 

 Entomologists. In order to facilitate the consultation of the Fabri- 

 cian types, Dr. Gray has separated these from the mass, which will 

 prove a great saving of time to the student. The Banksian collection 

 contains 1598 specimens of Coleoptei-a, 893 of Lepidoptera, 280 of Hy- 

 menoptera, 100 of Orthoptera, 199 of Homoptera, 225 of Diptera, 47 of 

 Neuroptera, and 90 of Hemiptera, — altogether 3432 specimens. In 

 addition to the above, the Linnean Society also presented the entire 

 series of insects collected by Captain King, described by Messrs. 

 Curtis and Haliday in the 'Transactions' of that Society. 



The presentations made to the national collection by the Entomo- 

 logical Society have been highly valuable, in an Entomologist's esti- 

 mate perhaps the most important. The types of the species of British 

 bees described by the Rev. W. Kirby have found, I trust, a perma- 

 ment abiding-place in the Museum : it is much to be regretted that 

 they were for so many years neglected by the illustrious monographer 

 as being of little value ; but so long as the fragment of a specimen 

 hangs upon a pin it will be prized as a memento of a noble monograph, 



