BRITISH MUSEUM (nATUEAL HISTORY). 91 



Neio Whale Room. 



The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury having^ 

 authorised provision being made in the financial year 1895-96 

 for the proposed new room for the exhibition of Whale 

 skeletons, allusion to which was made in a former Report, the 

 erection was commenced, early in the autumn, of a temporary 

 iron building, 120 feet long and 45 feet wide, situated at 

 the rear of the north-west corner of the main structure. 

 The building will shortly be ready for the reception of 

 specimens. 



Expedition to the Salvages. 



In the early summer Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant, an Assistant 

 in the Zoological Department, received special leave of absence 

 to enable him to visit the Salvage Islands, a group of small 

 uninhabited islets north of the Canaries, with the object of 

 making a collection of specimens of their fauna and flora. 



The collections brought home by Mr. Grant, the details of 

 which will be found in the Departmental Reports, were of con- 

 siderable interest, and included a fine series of Bird-skins, 

 mostly Petrels. 



Mr. Grant was accompanied on his expedition by the Hon. 

 Cecil Baring, who very materially aided him in obtaining the 

 specimens. 



Expedition to the Amazon. 



Messrs. Siemens, Bros., and Co., Limited, having kindly 

 offered a free passage out and home to a Museum officer on 

 board their cable-ship "Faraday," which they were sending on 

 a cable-laying expedition up the Amazon as far as Manaos, 

 the Trustees have deputed Mr. E. E. Austen, an Assistant in 

 the Zoological Department, to accompany the expedition with 

 the view of obtaining specimens for the Museum. It is ex- 

 pected that collections of considerable scientific interest will 

 be brought home by Mr. Austen. 



Presents. 



The total number of separate presents reported as received 

 in the Museum during the year amounts to 1,225, many of 

 them comprising a large number of specimens. The details of 

 all the more important of these will be found in the Reports 

 of the Keepers of the several Departments, but the following 

 are mentioned here also as being of special interest : — 



From H. R. H. the Prince of Wales.— Two Little Auks {Mer- 

 gulus alle), obtained at Sandringham. 



0.97. From 



