2l8 REPORT ON MUSEUM WORK 



hot water is now good and uniform. There is therefore no 

 need for the additional main flow-pipe which it was feared 

 might still be necessary. 



Important and interesting acquisitions to the museum have 

 been made during the year in, if anything, greater numbers 

 than usual. Perhaps the most striking of all is a specimen of 

 a gigantic species of squid, Sthenoteuthis pteropus, presented 

 by Mr. Hugh V. Charlton, who found it early in January 

 thrown up on the shore near Whitley Bay. The animal 

 measures 5ft. 6^in. in total length, and its longest tentacles 

 are 3ft. long. There appear to be only six recorded occurences 

 of this formidable cephalopod on the coast of Britain, and in 

 only two instances has the animal itself been preserved. The 

 building of a tank in which to mount our specimen in an 

 upright position is a problem that has cost us a great deal of 

 time and trouble, and a considerable sum of money as well; 

 nor are we yet by any means sure that we have succeeded. 



Fishes that we required for casting have been obtained 

 for us by Mr. Charlton, Miss D. Richardson, Mr. Newbey 

 Green, and Mr. W. E. Beck ; and Messrs. F. H. Phillips 

 and Co. have very kindly lent us choice fishes from their 

 shops for the same purpose. Mr. Abel Chapman has 

 shown me through his large collection of bird skins, British, 

 Arctic and Spanish, and has generously presented to the 

 museum any that I thought would be of service. From two 

 residents in Africa, through whom our collections have largely 

 benefited already, we have received further gifts during the 

 year : from the Rev. R. Stewart Wright some ethnological 

 and natural history objects, the latter including two examples 

 of Glossina palpalis, the fly which conveys sleeping sickness ; 

 and from Mr. Alex. Girdwood another consignment of useful 

 specimens from the Gold Coast, including some young 

 crocodiles of a rare species and an example of the electric 

 catfish Malopterurus. Other valuable material from foreign 

 countries has been obtained, both by donation and exchange, 

 from Capt. D. H. Nash of South Shields, a keen naturalist 



