BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTOEY). 85 



Expedition to Socotra. 



Special leave of absence has also been granted to Mr. W. 

 R. Ogilvie Grant, an Assistant in the Zoological Department, 

 to enable him to make an expedition to the island of Socotra, 

 with the object of collecting specimens of Natural History 

 for the Museum; the funds for the expedition being partly 

 provided by the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical 

 Society. 



Arrangements having been kindly sanctioned by the 

 Viceroy of India for the conveyance of Mr. Grant and his 

 party from Aden to Socotra and back by the Royal Indian 

 Marine Guard Ship, Mr. Grant left England on the 28th 

 October. Mr. Grant is accompanied on his expedition by 

 Dr. H. 0. Forbes, Director of the Liverpool Museum. 



Malaria Inquiry. 



In connection with the investigation of Malaria and similar 

 diseases by a joint Committee appointed by the Colonial 

 Office and the Royal Society, and in view of the probable 

 connection between malaria and mosquitoes and other 

 dipterous insects which bite men and animals, a pamphlet of 

 Instructions for Collecting Mosquitoes has been printed, and 

 the cordial co-operation of the Colonial Office, Foreign Office, 

 India Office, the Missionary Societies, the Royal Niger Com- 

 pany, and other bodies has been obtained in the distribution 

 of these pamphlets to scientific and other officials in the 

 British Colonies and Protectorates and to the consular 

 officers in the tropics. 



In this way it is hoped that large collections of these 

 insects will be obtained, wnth a view to their determination 

 and classification at the Museum, when it is hoped that it 

 will be found possible to distinguish those species in which 

 the malaria parasite is found. 



Purchases. 



Important acquisitions by purchase have been made during 

 the year, among which special mention may be made of the 

 Norman collection of Marine Invertebrates and Land and 

 Freshwater Shells (first instalment, consisting of over 26,000 

 specimens) ; a complete .skeleton of an aboriginal Tasmanian, 

 a race now extinct ; a specimen of the rare mollusc Pleuroto- 

 maria heyrichii from Japan, the only living specimen yet 

 discovered ; an entire specimen of the rare elasmobranch 

 fish, Squatina alifera, from the lithographic stone of 

 Nusplingen ; a valuable and unique collection of fossil insect 

 remains formed by the late Rev. P. B. Brodie (4,700 speci- 

 mens) ; the Piper collection of fossils from all the strata of 

 the Ledbury Tunnel (1,806 specimens) ; and a selection from 



