94 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BKITISH MUSEUM. 



by Mr. Henry Pearson, and presented by him to the 

 Museum. 



The actual number of specimens registered during the past 

 year has been thirty-thousand one hundred and forty-four. 

 All these have been incorporated, and the recent acquisitions 

 have been neatly labelled. Much assistance in the latter 

 work has been voluntarily given by Miss Dorothy Bate and 

 Mr. Kobert Reid. 



Reptilia, Batrachia, and Pisces.— As in previous years, 

 all additions have been named, registered, and incorporated 

 in the collection, and the good condition of the spirit 

 collection has been maintained by replenishing the bottles 

 and renewing the alcohol where necessary. Two large fishes, 

 a Perch ( EiDinephelus tauvina), and a Shark {E chinorhinus 

 spinosus), have been stuffed for exhibition in the gallery, 

 and numerous skeletons of fisher, have been prepared. 



The Assistant in charge of the collections has devoted much 

 of his time to the study and re-arrangement of the African 

 Freshwater Fishes. Besides working out large and highly 

 important collections from Lake Tanganyika and the Congo, 

 he has prepared revisions of the great families Cichlidoi and 

 MorTYiyridai. He has, in addition, published the concluding 

 part of a work on European Frogs, and numerous papers 

 dealing with Reptiles, Batrachians, and Fishes, preserved in 

 the Museum. Dr. J. Anderson's great work on the Reptiles 

 and Batrachians of Egypt, published 1898, is also based on 

 material in the National Collection, his valuable gift having 

 been reported in 1897. 



Mollusea. — The re-arrangement and the re-mounting in 

 glass-topped boxes of the study-collection has been proceeded 

 with, and the acquisitions, exceeding 30,000 specimens, have 

 been registered, mounted where necessary, and incorporated. 



Many written labels of genera and sub-genera have been 

 replaced by printed ones, and numerous specimens in the 

 exhibited series have been retabletted. 



A considerable number of species in the general collection 

 have been critically examined, and their nomenclature 

 determined. Also some important series of specimens from 

 Central and South Africa, the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, 

 Cura9oa, and other localities have been worked out and 

 described. 



Crustacea. — Five new cabinets of improved construction 

 have been made, and the dried collection of the Oxyrhyncha 

 have been arranged in them. 



Mr. C. Edmund Aikin has been kind enough to continue 

 his examination of . the microscopic preparations of the 

 Macrura, Schizopoda, and Isopoda formed by the " Chal- 

 lenger " Expedition, and has brought them into an excellent 

 state of repair, 



