2G ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MU8EUM. 



The Museum has co-operated with othcn- Departments in the 

 consideration o£ questions connected with food economy and the food 

 resources of the country. Information has been furnished on matters 

 relating to the utilization of the eggs of sea-gulls and other wild birds 

 as food and for industrial purposes ; the facilities that might safely 

 be granted for the shooting of migratory edible birds ; measures for 

 increasing the supplies of fresh- water fishes for food, &c. 



A new case has been installed in the Central Hall dealing with 

 the subject of Food Economy as related to food-stuffs obtained from 

 plants. The several sections of the exhibit comprise cereals, bread, 

 roots and tubers and other vegetables, nuts, pulses, fresh fruits, 

 beverages, and sugar and its substitutes. A feature of the exhibit is 

 the series of coloured diagrams showing the nutritive values of some 

 typical foods. 



In view of the enormous ravages of rats and mice, which are 

 responsible for the loss of thousands of tons of valuable food- 

 material, and for the dissemination of disease, the Trustees have 

 undertaken the preparation of a short treatise dealing with the 

 mode of life, breeding, and economic importance of these small 

 rodents. . The pamphlet, which is in preparation by Mr. M. A. C 

 Hinton, will be published as a number of the Economic Series. 



In the Department of Botany the following matters, among 

 others, have been dealt with : — The examination of a fungus which 

 was destroying army tents at Malta and causing serious loss — an 

 effective remedy being suggested ; inquiries as to camouflage of 

 guns in winter ; the source of supply of sphagnum moss for surgical 

 dressings ; sources of supply of timbers ; damage to timber by 

 diseases. Inquiries connected with food production, including the 

 cause of ropiness in bread and the fungus-attack of sacks of flour 

 during transport, were also dealt with. 



Reports have been prepared in the Department of Geology on 

 several collections of fossils from Trinidad, to facilitate the explora- 

 tions for oil-bearing deposits in that island. 



A memorandum was prepared in the Department of Minerals on 

 sources of supply of colourless fluor and of Iceland spar, and 

 fragments of rocks from concrete used in German fortifications 

 were compared with the large series of German rocks in the 

 Department. 



Owing to the influx of malaria* patients f roin overseas, and the 

 danger that malaria might be spread in this country through the 

 agency of the native anopheline (or malaria carrying) species of 

 mosquitoes, it had become very important to know the distribution 

 of the latter in England and Wales, and in consequence every effort 

 has been made to obtain all the knowledge possible on the subject. 

 With the assistance of the Local Government Board and of various 

 scientific bodies, specimens of mosquitoes have been received from 

 many parts of the country, and have been identified in the Entomo- 

 logical Department. This work is still being carried on, and the 

 Department has in hand the preparation of a map which will make 

 the knowledge thus obtained accessible in a convenient form. 



