New Zealand Institute. 511 
Museum. 
From the 9th July, 1876, to the present date, 14,500 visitors have 
entered their names in the book kept in the Museum-hall for that purpose. 
There have been 41,159 specimens received into the Museum during 
_ 1876-77, 12,159 of which are specimens collected by officers of the Geolo- 
gical Survey Staff. 
Herbarium.—The Herbarium has undergone little change since last 
report ; specimens of several local plants have been added by the depart- 
ment, and a collection containing 40 specimens of South Island species 
has been presented by Captain Campbell-Walker, of the Forest Depart- 
ment, through Mr. T. Kirk 
The presentation, referred to in last report, by the Trustees of the 
British Museum, arrived during the year in good condition, containing 
about 28,000 species of European and other plants, but, owing to the want 
of a suitable place where they can be conveniently referred to, they still 
remain unpacked. 
In connection with the Herbarium Department, a collection of seeds 
and products, including a large number of pine cones, have been arranged 
in the north gallery of the Museum, classified in their natural orders and 
named. 
During the year about 50 plata have been lithographed, ineludin ng the 
illustrations for Vol. IX. of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. 
Sixty. maps and sections have been prepared for the Geological Survey 
Reports; and the first part of a descriptive work on the Grasses of New 
Zealand, containing 10 folio plates and letter-press, has been prepared by 
Mr. John Buchanan, F.L.S., Botanist and Draughtsman to the Geolo- 
gical Survey Department. 
Natural History Collections.—'The show-cases ordered in London, and 
those received from the Philadelphia Exhibition, have now been placed in 
the Museum, and additional accommodation for the display of specimens 
has been gained by the erection of wall cases round the whole extent of the 
gallery. The contents of the Museum are now set out on a general plan, 
although the minute arrangement and cataloguing of the specimens is far 
from complete. It is intended that the central part of the hall should be 
devoted to general typical and foreign collections ; the north wing to the 
illustration of the natural history of New Zealand, zoology on the ground 
floor, and botany in the gallery; while the whole of the south wing is 
devoted to the collections made in the course of the geological survey of 
the colony. 
A new edition of the Catalogue of the Museum, which will be framed on 
the complete prospective arrangement, is in preparation. 
