Ivi REPORT OF MUSEUM WORK 



CURATOR'S REPORT ON MUSEUM WORK 

 1918-1919. 



During the past two or three years the work done in the 

 Museum has necessarily been confined for the most part to 

 what may be called maintenance work, as distinct from pro- 

 gressive work; and I should like to say that- it is a great 

 satisfaction to me to find on my return that the collections 

 have been kept in such excellent order. A good deal of work 

 of this character has been done during the year under review. 

 The Hancock and Raine collections of British birds' nests and 

 eggs have been examined and put into good order, as have 

 also the large Pallas collection of Russian plants and some 

 other sets of herbarium material. The birds and cases on the 

 gallery of the bird room have likewise been overhauled, to 

 the great improvement of their appearance. 



Similar work has been done on some recently acquired 

 collections, for example on the shells presented last year by 

 Miss M. V. Lebour, D.Sc, and on the Finlay collection of 

 local butterflies and moths recently presented by Mrs. MofFatt. 

 (Incidentally it should be stated that the Finlay collection is 

 well worth any work that may be involved in its preservation. 

 The late John Finlay was one of the best of the earlier 

 Northumbrian lepidopterists, and his records are constantly 

 quoted in our catalogue of the local butterflies and moths.) 

 The very numerous minerals and fossils presented by Mr. H. 

 Cooper Abbs (see list of donations) have been worked through 

 and sorted, and the spiders from the Rev. J. E. Hull have 

 been embodied in the reference collection with which he has 

 provided us by instalments in previous years. 



A valuable piece of work of a different kind which was 

 carried out by the 'war-time' staff" was the preparation of an 

 inventory of the contents of the Museum. This was in part 

 undertaken for purposes of insurance, but in order to serve 

 museum purposes as well tlie inventory was considerably 

 elaborated. With a view to adequate insurance, dimensions 



