BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY). 103 



4. From Antigua : — 



Geological and palseontological specimens 520 

 Zoological and botanical collections, including 



three cases of recent corals, land shells, 



lizards, lepidoptera, &lc. 



Purchases. 



Among the more important acquisitions by purchase made 

 during the year, special mention may be made of an in- 

 teresting series of Zoological specimens from the Galapagos 

 Islands, collected by the Webster-Harris Expedition ; a first 

 selection from the zoological collection made by the late 

 Mr. J. Whitehead in the island of Hainan ; the collection of 

 mammals and birds made by Mr. A. Blayney Percival in 

 Southern Arabia ; the skeleton of a gigantic land-reptile 

 from the Oxford Clay, near Peterborough ; 1,31.3 specimens 

 of fossils selected from the collection obtained by Mr. W. Jex 

 from the Tertiary deposits of Patagonia, including remains 

 of Nesodon, Ground-Sloths, Cetaceans, and other Mammals, 

 birds, fishes, »&c. ; the collection made by the late Professor 

 Schmitz of 7,703 microscopic slides exhibiting the fruits 

 and other systematic characters of the Floridese ; the Jame- 

 son Herbarium of 1800 specimens of British Mosses ; and a 

 large fragment of the Meteoric Iron found in Choctaw 

 County, U.S.A., remarkable for the large enclosures of the 

 meteoric mineral Schreibersite, a phosphide of iron and 

 nickel. 



Presents. 



The number of separate presents reported as having been 

 received during the year by the several Departments of the 

 Museum was 1,533, as compared with 1,610 in the preceding 

 year. Many of these comprised a large number of individual 

 specimens. The details of all the more important of them 

 will be found in the Reports of the Keepers of Departments, 

 but the following are mentioned here also as being of special 

 interest : — 



From His Royal Highnesss the Prince of Wales — A mounted 

 specimen of a Tarpon {Megalops thrissoides), measuring 

 6 ft. 10 ins., from Florida, obtained by Mr. Otis A. Mygatt. 



From Mr. F. Du Cane Godman, f.r.s. — Further valuable 

 series of insects, as follows : — two important additions to 

 the collection of Lepidoptera, comprising 762 Butterflies of 

 the geuus Argynnis, chiefly Palsearetic, and 646 Noctuid 

 Moths from Central America ; further instalments of his col- 

 lection of the Coleoptera of Central America, consisting of 

 968 specimens of the family Brenthidse, and 4,333 specimens 

 of 'the families Erotylidse and Coccinellidse, referable to 550 

 species ; 598 species of Central American Orthoptera of the 



