BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY). 103 



X.— British Museum (Natural History). 



STATEMENT of Progress made in the Arrangement and 

 Description of the Collections, and Account of 

 Objects added to them, in the Year 1905. 



General Progress. 



Visitors. 



In 1905, for the first time since the opening of the Natural 

 History Museum, the number of visits paid to the galleries by 

 the public in any one year exceeded half a million, the total 

 number recorded being 506,313, an increase of 95,756 over the 

 total in 1904, and of nearly 80,000 over that of any previous 

 year. The number of visits recorded as having been made on 

 Sunday afternoons was 70,084, as against 60,909 in 1904. 



The average daily attendance for all open days during 

 the year was 1,560 • 09 ; for week-days only, 1,600 • 73, and for 

 Sunday afternoons, 1322 • 34. 



Swiney Lectures. 



Dr. J. S. Flett delivered a course of Swiney Lectures on 

 Geology in the autumn, commencing on Monday, 6th Novem- 

 ber, and finishing on Friday, 1st December, the subject being 

 "The Geological History of Great Britain." The lectures, 

 12 in number, were given in the theatre of the Victoria and 

 Albert Museum, by permission of the Board of Education, 

 and were attended by an average of 328 persons per lecture, 

 as compared with 248 in 1904. 



The Trustees have appointed Dr. R. F. ScharfF, Keeper of 

 the Natural History Collections of the Dublin Museum, to 

 the Swiney Lectureship for the two years 1906-7. 



Reproduction of Diplodocus. 



The reproduction of the skeleton of the remarkable 

 extinct reptile, Diplodocus carnegii, presented by Mr. 

 Andrew Carnegie to King Edward VII., and transferred by 

 His Majesty to the British Museum, has been placed in the 

 Reptile Gallery, the mounting of the specimen having been 

 carried out under the superintendence of Dr. W. J. Holland, 

 Director of the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, U.S.A. The 

 ceremony of presentation took place on the 12th May, when 

 Mr. Carnegie was present, and Lord Avebury, on behalf of 

 the Trustees, received the specimen in the presence of a 

 representative gathering of about 300 persons. Mr. Carnegie 

 defrayed the entire cost of mounting and of the handsome 

 mahogany base on which the specimen rests. 



