BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY). 



British Musp]um (Natural History). 



STATEMENT of Progress made in the Arrangement and 

 Description of the Collections, and Account of Objects 

 added to them, in the year 1919. 



General Progress. 



Visitors, Sic. 



The total number of visitors to the Natural History Museum 

 during 1919 was 455,736, as compared with 422,805 in 1918. 

 This is the largest total since 1913, the year before the war, when 

 the number was 486,320. The attendance on Sunday afternoons 

 was 56,673, as against 46,109 in the previous year. The average 

 daily attendance for all open days was 1,255 ; for week-days, 

 1,286 ; and for Sunday afternoons, 1,090. 



The number of persoiis who attended the demonstrations of the 

 Official Guide during the year was 12,236. His services were 

 placed at the disposal of the officers and men of the Indian Con- 

 tingent attending the Peace Celebrations, many parties being- 

 conducted by him on special tours round the Museum. Parties from 

 the R.A.F. Armament School, Uxbridge, from the United States 

 troops in London at that time, and from various Welfare Associations, 

 Military Hospitals, &c., also availed themselves of his guidance on 

 special tours. 



All the exhibition galleries have been re-opened to the public 

 daily, on week-days ; but, owing to the increased cost for constables 

 for warding them, the Botanical Gallery and some of the back 

 galleries closed during the war have not been re-opened on Sundays. 



The exhibition cases of British Nesting Birds and British 

 Mammals have been restored to their proper positions in the 

 Bird Gallery and Western Pavilion, and the collection of shells 

 has been re-arranged in the Shell Gallery. 



Eepresentation of the Museum on Committees, &c. 



Dr. G. T. Prior, F.R.S., has been nominated to represent the 

 Museum on the Chemical Industries Committee and the Mis- 

 cellaneous Committee of the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau. 



Dr. F. A. Bather, F.R.S., Assistant Keeper of Geology, has 

 been appointed to serve on a special Committee of the Museums 

 Association to consider a proposal of the Ministry of Reconstruction 

 to transfer the control of municipal Museums to the local education 

 authority. 



Mr. M. A. C. Hinton was delegated by the Trustees to represent 

 the Museum at the 30th Congress of the Royal Sanitary Institute, 

 held at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in July. 



