DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY. 99 



Department of Zoology. 



I. — Arrangement. 



For several years past notice has been taken in these 

 annual Reports of the progress made in the arrangement of 

 the Noctuidce, one of the large families of Moths. This 

 important work has been completed in the last year ; and as 

 it well illustrates the growth of the collections generally, 

 and the amount of labour entailed by this growth, the 

 previous short notices may be supplemented by a few addi- 

 tional remarks. 



When the late Mr. F. Walker completed his Catalogue of 

 Moths in the Museum in the year 1866, the Noctuidce 

 occupied five cabinets of 20 drawers each, and were repre- 

 sented by about 7,150 specimens. The ordinary annual 

 additions, together with the Wallace, Pinwill, Lidderdale and 

 Hocking collections of Indian Moths which were acquired in 

 1875 and following years, rapidly filled every available space in 

 those cabinets, and rendered a re-arrangement, or, at least, an 

 expansion of their contents imperative, the more so as no 

 room could be found for incorporating the North American 

 collections made by Grote (purchased in 1881 and 1882) and 

 l)y Lord Walsingham (presented in 1887), or the large 

 European series from the Zeller collection (1884). 



However, the systematic re-arrangement could not be 

 commenced before 1889. During its progress numerous 

 further acquisitions from every part of the globe were made 

 by purchase or donation, the most important being Professor 

 Frey's European collection (1890) ; Mr. Duckinfield Jones' 

 collections from Sao Paulo (1888-1889) ; Dr. Traill's collection 

 from the Amazons (1889); Major Harford's and Colonel 

 Yerbury's collections from N.W. India (1887-1892); large 

 annual contributions, with numerous types, from Colonel 

 Swinhoe's Indian collections ; collections made by Mr. 

 Hampson in 1888 in the Nilghiries, or received by him from 

 Travancore (1892-1894); by Mr. E. E. Green (1891) and 

 Oolonel Yerbury (1892; in Ceylon ; by Mr. G. C. Dudgeon 

 (1894) in Sikkim ; by Mr. W. B. Pryer in Borneo (1891 and 

 1894) ; Mr. Raynor's Australian collection (1889) ; and last, 

 but most important of all, Mr. F. Moore's Indian collection 

 (1894). 



After all these materials had been arranged in systematic 

 order, the Noctuidce occupied 25 cabinets of 20 drawers each, 

 and are estimated to be represented by 8,930 species and 

 41,760 specimens. The work entailed the determination and 

 description of a large number of genera and species ; altera- 

 tions in the nomenclature which had to be entered in 

 Walker's printed Catalogues, and of which a record has been 



0.97. G 2 published 



