124 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



A very fine Boa Constrictor {Boa constrictor), from South 

 America, presented by the Zoological Societj'. The latter 

 specimen and the Gabun Viper referred to in the previous 

 Return have been painted under the personal superintendence 

 of the Hon. Walter Rothschild (who also defraj^ed the artist's 

 charges), and are now really life-like representations of their 

 respective species. 



Study Series. — All additions have been registered and 

 incorporated, and the work of renewing the spirit and of 

 replenishing jars has been proceeded with as usual. 



Pisces. 



All the accessions have been incorporated in the collection 

 and have increased the congestion referred to in previous reports. 

 The arrangement of the African Fresh-water Fishes in the order 

 of Mr. Boulenger's new catalogue has been completed. The 

 card-catalogue has been continued, the work of checking and 

 cleaning the bottles and replenishing them with spirit has been 

 carried on. 



In the Exhibition Gallery some progress has been made. In 

 the early part of the year Mr. A. J. Gear was engaged for a 

 few weeks to cast and paint fishes, and in the last two months 

 Mr. A. Fieldsend^has been occupied with this work. It is intended 

 gradually to replace the less satisfactory fishes in the gallery by 

 better examples of the taxidermist's art and in time to organise 

 a good exhibition of British Fishes. 



TUNICATA. 



The collection of Tunicata has been entirely re-arranged in 

 accordance with the latest classification and relabelled in the case 

 of the great majority of the bottles ; and steps have been taken 

 to ensure conservation. A manuscript catalogue of the collec- 

 tion has been made. 



MOLLUSCA. 



In the Shell Gallery the relabelling and remounting of the 

 Sikes Collection of British land and freshwater shells have 

 been continued, and arrangements have been made for accom- 

 modating the collection in new cases. The services of Mr. G. 

 K. Gude have again been secured for continuing the re-arrange- 

 ment, renaming, and relabelling of the exhibited series of 

 Zonitidse. Mr. E. A Smith, I.S.O., formerly Assistant-Keeper, 

 has continued to give assistance, the value of which can hardly 

 be over-estimated. 



In the Spirit Building a large part of the collection of 

 Cephalopoda has been regrouped and relabelled. 



The collection of Mollusca obtained by the British Antarctic 

 ("Terra Nova") Expedition has been received and sorted out. 

 Most of the groups have been assigned to workers for study. 



The Cephalopoda obtained in 1905 by the " Sealark " in the 

 Indian Ocean have been fully worked out and a report has been 

 prepared, with descriptions of new and interesting forms. 



I 



