XXll REPORT ON MUSEUM WORK 



CURATOR'S REPORT ON MUSEUM WORK. 

 1916-1917. 



In previous Curator's Annual Reports much progressive 



work has been commented on, but as I stated in my first 



Monthly Report to the Council, when I assumed the 



Temporary Curatorship towards the end of last October, with 



the present depleted Museum staff, and especially with the 



absence of the Curator and Assistant Curator, no distinctively 



progressive work could be looked for. The most we could 



hope to do, would be to endeavour to preserve the fine 



collections in some measure of good order and efficiency, and 



this has been our chief aim during the past year, in which we 



may fairly claim some measure of success. With this end 



in view the whole of the Desk Cases in the Zoology Room 



and most of those in the Bird Room have been cleaned out, 



damaged specimens repaired, and everything left in good 



order. A similar work has been done in the Ethnology 



Gallery. Not much has been attempted with the Wall Cases 



with the exception of the large Reptile Case, which has been 



thoroughly overhauled, the inside of the case re-tempered 



many of the specimens carefully cleaned, and the jars refilled 



with spirit. The last-mentioned work has been done with 



most of the spirit preparations in the Zoology Room. We are 



much indebted to Prof. Meek for help in naming for us a large 



number of specimens, chiefly tropical lizards, in the reptile and 



other cases. The Rock Pool and the Squid Tank have 



received a good deal of attention, and much re-labelling has 



been done, especially with the Fish Collection. For the latter 



work the printing press has been of very great use. Most of 



the Store Cupboards have been cleaned out and the contents 



re-arranged; and in this connexion I may allude to a much 



needed piece of work of which a commencement has been 



made, viz., the collecting together of the very numerous 



Transactions and other papers received from learned Societies 



all over the world during recent years. Some of the more 



