66 accounts, etc., of the british museum. 



Department of Zoology. 



I. — Arrangement and Conservation. 



Mammalia. 



Mammal Galleries. 



Work in these as well as in the other Exhibition Galleries has 

 been reduced to a minimum, in order to avoid unnecessary 

 expenditure during the War. 



For many years the exhibited specimens of Mammals, Reptiles, 

 and Domestic Animals were in the charge of Mr. Richard Lydekker, 

 F.R.S. His death, on April 16, 1915, has left these important 

 parts of the public galleries without any special provision for their 

 arrangement. The value of the services he had given in rendering 

 the exhibited series attractive to visitors, in writing Guide Books, 

 and in many other ways, can hardly be overestimated. 



In the Upper Mammal Gallery the Gorilla Case has been 

 rearranged, with the view of minimising some of the inconveniences 

 due to the reflection of light from the surface of the glass fronts of 

 the cases. The amount of light received by the eye from a black 

 specimen is often less than that reflected by the glass from the floor, 

 windows, and other parts of tlie gallery. Such specimens may thus 

 be hardly visible through the glass to an observer, who sees the floor 

 and his own reflection with undesirable distinctness. 



In the Lower Mammal Gallery two squares of glass have been 

 removed in the large Buffalo Case, and have been replaced by sash 

 windows, facilitating access to the specimens. 



The principal additions have been received by presentation from 

 the Trustees of the late James Rowland Ward, and they include the 

 following : — a Somali Rhinoceros {Rhinoceros hicornis somaliensis)^ 

 an Atlantic Walrus {Odohenvs rosmarvs), a Chinese Leopard (Felis 

 fontaneiri), a Siberian Wolf (Canis lupus), a Ruffed Lemur (Lemur 

 varius), a Tamandua Anteater {Tamandua tetradacti/la) and other 

 specimens. Lady Seton-Karr has given several remarkably fine 

 specimens selected from the collection of her late husband, the well- 

 known sportsman. Sir Henry Seton-Karr ; including two heads of 

 Wapiti {Cervus canadensis), a head of a Mule Deer {Odocoileus 

 hemionus) and a skull with horns of a Bighorn Sheep (Ovis 

 canadensis). A recently born Russian Brown Bear {Ursus arctos), 

 presented by Dr. Maxime Goldberg, shows the striking disproportion 

 in size between young and adult Bears. Two Squirrels (Sciurus 

 vulgaris fuscoater), from the Thuringian Forest, presented by 

 C. T, Seltman, Esq., and the head of a Diggle's Hartebeest (Bubalis 

 tora digglei), the gift of W. H. Diggle, also deserve attention. 

 Prof. H. F. Osborn, of the American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York, has presented four busts representing reconstructions of 

 PithecantJirojms and the Piltdown, Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon 

 races of Man. 



