BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY). 17 



XI. British Museum (Natural History). 



SUMMARY o£ General Progress made at the Natural History 

 Museum in the year 1918. 



In view o£ the continued shortage of paper, only a summary of 

 the departmental reports of progress and acquisitions has been 

 printed, as in the preceding year. 



The total number of visits made by the public to the Natural 

 History Museum during 1918 was 422,805, as compared with 

 423,128 in 1917. The attendance on Sunday afternoons was 

 46,109, as against 46,468 in the preceding year. The average 

 daily attendance for all open days was 1,165 ; for week-days, 

 1,211 ; and for Sunday afternoons, 887. 



With the exception of the northern Geological Galleries all the 

 Exhibition Galleries of the Natural History Museum were open 

 to the public either on alternate days or daily, including Sundays, 

 <luring the war. 



The daily opening of all the Exhibition galleries has been 

 resumed, and steps have been taken with a - view to the release 

 from military service of all members of the staff, so as to enable 

 them to take up their duties at the Museum as soon as possible. 



It has been decided to keep the Museum open to the public 

 till 5 p.m. on weekdays during the winter months (November- 

 February) . 



The services of the Official Guide Lecturer have been continued 

 throughout the same period, and have been much in request by 

 parties of soldiers, many of them wounded, and others. The 

 principles of colour-protection have been demonstrated by him to 

 officers and men of the Camouflage School on many occasions, and 

 in these demonstrations the following exhibits have been of special 

 service : — In the Central Hall, Thayer's bird-models illustrating 

 protective coloration, the cases containing Northern Animals in 

 Summer and Winter Dress and Desert Animals, and the Mimicry 

 case ; amongst the Mammals, the Lion, Tiger, and Leopard, the 

 Ruffed Lemur, Great Panda, Takin, Zebra, and Giraffe ; and in 

 other galleries, such exhibits as the cases of Terns and Plovers 

 with eggs and chicks, the Little Bittern, the Python, Coral Snake 

 and Krait, the Tree Frogs, Mackerel and Tunny, and many Insects, 

 Dr. T. J. Jehu gave, at the Roj^al Society of Arts, a course of 

 twelve lectures on the Swiney foundation, his subject being " Man 

 and his Ancestry." The total attendance for the course was 2,563, 

 or on an average 214 persons per lecture. 



A " Guide to Rats and Mice as Enemies of Mankind " has been 

 prepared, giving some account of the instrumentality of these rodents 

 in destroying crops and in spreading various serious diseases such 

 as Bubonic Plague and Trichinosis. (Economic Series, No. 8.) 



