86 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



The printing o£ the Supplement to the Library Catalogue has 

 been continued, title-slips to the end of " FYS " have now been 

 set up in type and printed off as far as " FOUR," and the first 

 three sheets of the " Addenda and Corrigenda " have been also 

 printed off. 



Index of the Genera and Species of Animals. 



During the past three years considerable progress has been 

 made with this Index, under Mr. 0. Davies Sherborn's charge, and 

 some 90,000 references have been added to the manuscript. The 

 letter " T " of authors has now been reached. The manuscript has 

 been continuously and extensively consulted by the staff and by 

 students, whilst many enquiries have been answered by Mr. Sherborn 

 in correspondence, which has been greatly increased owing to the 

 many practical uses to which natural science is now applied, 

 necessitating accurate nomenclature of the animals referred to. 



Further publication by Mr. Sherborn of bibliographic data has 

 not been necessary during the past year ; but a large draught has 

 been made upon his manuscript by Mr. Gregory Mathews and 

 Mr. Tom Iredale for their '* Birds of Australia " and " Mollusca of 

 Australia." 



Index Museum and Morphological Collections. 



From the Summer of 1917 to the Spring of 1919, the Index 

 Museum suffered an entire depletion of its staff, owing to the 

 exigencies of Military Service or service in connection with the 

 war. During this time, however, two table-cases containing exhibits 

 and diagrams dealing with the subject of Food Economy, and 

 showing the nutritive values of foods derived from Plants and 

 Animals, respectively, were placed in the Central Hall. The work 

 entailed in connection with these two cases was done by the Museum 

 Lecturer and Guide, Mr. J. H. Leonard. At this time also, the 

 Army Biscuit Enquiry case — the result of research work by Mr. J. 

 H. Durrant (Entomological Department) and Col. W. 0. Beveridge, 

 R.A.M.C. — was re-exhibited at the special request of the War Office. 



February, 1919, saw the return of one member of the Index 

 Museum staff, and immediate steps were taken to inspect all the 

 si)irit preparations in the Bays of the Central Hall that might have 

 suffered evaporation or damage during the five years of war. Of 

 these, 200 jars containing specimens and dissections were re-spirited, 

 and, in several cases, repairs and re-sealings were also carried 'out. 

 A valuable collection of specimens showing several species of the 

 Pterobranch Ceplialodiscus, obtained by the "Terra Nova" Antarctic 

 Expedition, was also transferred for more careful preservation from 

 the original storage-jars to cylindrical museum-jars, and was re- 

 spirited. Attention was then given to the Mammalian Dentition 

 case in Bay I of the Hall, and three small skulls of Insectivores, 

 needed to complete the series, were prepared, and placed on 

 exhibition. 



