96 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Extension of the Botanical Department. 



In order to obtain more accommodation for the Botanical 

 Department, the Trustees have applied for provision in Class I. 

 of the Estimates for the construction of a room on the east 

 side of the second floor, similar to that erected on the west side 

 for the study collection of Mammals. 



Siviney Lectures. 



Dr. E. F. Scharff delivered in November his second course 

 of lectures on the Swiney foundation, the subject being "The 

 Geological History of the American Fauna." The lectures, 

 twelve in number, were given in the theatre of the Victoria 

 and Albert Museum (by permission of the Board of Education), 

 and the total attendance was 1,186 persons, or an average of 

 99 persons per lecture, as compared with 100 for the course of 

 1907. 



Dr. T, J. Jehu has been appointed to succeed Dr, ScharfF as 

 Swiney Lecturer for a term of two years (1909, 1910). The 

 subject of his first course will be " The History of the European 

 Area during late Tertiary and Pleistocene Times." 



Expedition to Christmas Island. 



Ten years having elapsed since Dr. C. W Andrews, Assistant 

 in the Geological Department, visited Christmas Island (Indian 

 Ocean) at the instance of Sir John Murray, K.C.B., that gentle- 

 man suggested to the Trustees that it might be productive of 

 interesting discoveries if Dr. Andrews revisited the island to 

 investigate the extent and nature of the changes that must have 

 taken place in consequence of the introduction of a considerable 

 population and the now frequent visits of ships. Special leave 

 was accordingly granted to Dr. Andrews, and he was able to 

 spend nearly three months on the island, the expenses of the 

 expedition being defrayed, as on the former occasion, by Sir J. 

 Murray. Considerable collections were made, particular atten- 

 tion being paid, on this occasion, to the marine animals. The 

 collections have not yet been fully worked out, but a number 

 of new^ species in several groups have already been noted. 



Of the changes that have taken place in the island the most 

 interesting is the apparently complete extinction of the two 

 species of native rats {Mus macleari and M. nativitatis). 

 This appears to have been brought about by the introduction 

 by rats from the ships of some epidemic disease to which the 

 native forms could offer no resistance. One of the results of 

 their disappearance is that in many of the more open parts of 

 the forest great numbers of seedlings of Inocarpus edulis 

 are growing up. Formerly the fruit of this tree was eaten in 

 great quantities by the rats. 



Some of the many plants introduced for food are spreading 

 widely along the roads, and the secondary growth in the clearings 

 in the neighbourhood of the settlement consists almost entirely 

 of a probably introduced tree, Melia azederach. 



