BEITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY). 101 



The Treasury have agreed to this step, and Mr. C. J. Gahan 

 has been appointed Keeper of Entomology. 



The remarkable increase in our knowledge of the role played 

 by insects in relation to many sides of human activity has led to 

 a great development in the work of this section of the Museum. 

 All the available accommodation for the proper arrangement of 

 the collections and for their study is now exhausted, and the 

 congested state of the entomological collections is engaging 

 the serious attention of the Trustees. They have under 

 consideration a plan for a considerable extension westward of 

 the main building of the Natural History Museum, which 

 would provide not only adequate accommodation for Entomo- 

 logical Research and an exhibition series of Insects, including 

 a series of specimens illustrating the economic side of the 

 subject, but also much needed space for other portions of the 

 Zoological Department, including a gallery in which a compre- 

 hensive display of specimens of Whales could be made. 



Re-arrangement of the Study Collection of Birds. 



During the summer the Bird Room was closed for six weeks 

 to allow of a complete re-arrangement of the Study Collection 

 of Birds in accordance with the Museum Hand-list. The 

 opportunity was taken of counting this vast collection, and it 

 was found that it consists of nearly 700,000 specimens, referable 

 to about 19,000 species. The collection is now arranged in 379 

 cabinets. 



Projected. Flight Exhibition. 



The Exhibition of Animals, Plants, and Minerals mentioned 

 in the Bible has been dismantled, and an exhibition is in 

 preparation of specimens illustrating modifications of structure 

 of animals in relation to flight. The series will prove of 

 interest in connection with the science of aeroplaning. 



Nature Reserves. 

 The Trustees have given permission to the newly established 

 Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves in the United 

 Kingdom to make use of the Natural History Museum as the 

 temporary address of the Society, with whose aims they are in 

 cordial sympathy. 



International Commission for the Protection of Nature. 



Mr. C. E. Fagan, I.S.O., Assistant Secretary, has been 

 appointed one of the British delegates to the Permanent 

 International Commission for the Protection of Nature, which 

 has its headquarters at Basle. 



International Congress of Entoinology. 



The Hon. Walter Rothschild, F.R.S., and Mr. C. J. Gahan 

 were nominated to represent the Natural History Museum at the 

 Second International Congress of Entomology, held at Oxford 

 in August 1912. 



