DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY. 93 



The re-organisation and classification of the Exhibition 

 Series of the Class Aves has also been commenced, and con- 

 siderable progress has been made with this work. Com- 

 mencing on the north side of the Bird Gallery with the 

 RatitoB or Struthious Birds, the arrangement will proceed 

 through the Tinamous, Game Birds, Pigeons, Bails, Plovers, 

 Gulls, Petrels, and Ducks to the large saloon at the western 

 end of the Gallery, where the Pelicans and Cormorants, and 

 some of the Birds of Prey will be exhibited. On the south 

 side of the Gallery will be arranged the remainder of the 

 Birds of Prey, the Owls, Parrots and other Picarian Birds, 

 as well as the Passeriformes or Perching Birds, with 

 which the arrangement will conclude on the left of the 

 main entrance to the Gallery. A student, therefore, 

 wishing to examine the higher forms of Bird-life, can com- 

 mence on the left or south side of the Gallery and pursue his 

 studies in regular sequence until he arrives at the Flightless 

 Birds, or he may commence with the latter on entering the 

 Gallery, and end with the highest forms of Passeriformes. 



Replilia, Batrachia and Pisces. — All accessions have been 

 registered, named and incorporated in the collection. The 

 spirit has been renewed, or the bottles replenished when 

 necessary, and the series of prepared skeletons of Reptiles 

 and Fishes has been notably increased. A Schlegel's Gavial 

 (Tomistoma schlegclii), a large Sun-lish {Ortliagoviscus vnola), 

 and a line specimen of the Maigre {Scicena aqiiila) have 

 been stuffed for exhibition in the British Gallery. 



The revision of the whole Reptile collection has been 

 brought to a close, and the concluding volume of the Cata- 

 logue of Snakes was published early in the year. 



Mollusta. — In order to obtain sufficient space for wall- 

 cases, and in view of a re-arrangement of the collection, an 

 entirely different disposition of the table-cases in the Shell 

 Gallery has been effected, and the whole of the exhibited 

 collection has been primarily re-arranged in accordance with 

 more modern views of classification. 



A commencement has been made of placing in glass-topped 

 boxes all the fragile shells in the study collection, and most 

 of the species of Limncea and Physa have been re-mounted. 

 Nearly all the acquisitions of Mollusca have been placed in 

 glass-topped boxes or mounted upon tablets, and a selection 

 of the more important specimens has been put on exhibition 

 in the table-cases. 



Several interesting collections of land and freshwater shells 

 from the islands of Celebes, Selayar, Jampea, Kalao, New 

 Guinea and Kolguev have been worked out and reported 

 on. 



0.125. Arachnida 



