154^ ACCOUXTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Department of Mineralogy. 



I. — Arrangement. 



Tlie specimens of limouite liave been re-arranged in the case- 

 iops, and those of proustite in a special light-proof case provided 

 with a wooden lid which can be raised in order to view the speci- 

 mens. 



Photomicrographs of micro-sections of some of the more im- 

 portant types of rocks have been placed in the cases containing 

 the species-collection of rocks. 



Series of minerals and rocks have been arranged for the use of 

 students, and descriptive labels have been prepared for them. 



Forty-eight boxes of mineral and rock specimens have been 

 received, unpacked, and examined; and fifty-two boxes have been 

 packed and dispatched. 



II. — Registration, Indei'ing, and Cataloguing. 



All the specimens of minerals, r<ocks, and meteorites acquired 

 during the year have been registered, numbered, provided with 

 permanent labels, and incorporated in the collection. In this 

 connection many specimens have been examined and determined, 

 and localities have been checked. 



The preparation of the slip-catalogues of the mineral speci- 

 mens in the collection, species by species, and of permanent labels 

 giving all available information for each specimen, has been con- 

 tinued for the Division of the Oxides, and has been commenced 

 for that of the Sulphates. In this connection slips and permanent 

 labels have been prepared for opal, valentinite, cervantite, ker- 

 mesite, and the remaining species up to the end of the Oxides. 



The slip-catalogue of species is being utilised for the prepara- 

 tion of a complete and detailed topographical index of all speci- 

 mens in the Mineral Collection, giving on cards the names of the 

 species represented from each locality; and at the same time a 

 topographical list of localities for each species is being prepared. 

 This work has been completed as far as the end of the Sulphides 

 and Sulpho-salts, and 2,670 locality cards have been written and 

 154 species dealt witho 



All the described specimens in the collection of rocks of the 

 *' Discovery '' Antarctic Expedition, and the specimens of rocks 

 described in the reports of the National Antarctic Expedition of 

 1907-9, have been provided with permanent labels, and the names 

 have been included in the list of rock-names. 



The preparation of a new descriptive and alphabetical list of 

 the meteorites represented in the collection has been in progress. 



Two copies of the new periodical publication, '* Mineralogical 

 Abstracts," issued by the Mineralogical Society, have been cut 

 up when received and arranged for reference in the Department. 



