BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY), 97 



Sir John Murray has presented the first selection of all the 

 collections to the British Museum. Dr. Andrews was greatly ' 

 indebted for assistance in many ways to Mr. J. D. Murray, the 

 Manager of the Christmas Island Phosphate Company, and to 

 various members of his staff. 



Presents. 



The total number of gifts received during the year by the 

 several departments was 2,259, as compared with 2,105 in 1907. 

 Many of these comprised large numbers of individual specimens. 

 The details of all the more important of them will be found in the 

 reports of the Keepers of the Departments, but the following 

 may be mentioned here as of special interest : — 



From Mr. F. D. Godman. — Additional valuable collections 

 of insects from Central America and other localities, and a 

 series of water colour drawings of butterflies of the family 

 Hesperidse, after originals by Plotz. 



. From the Hon. Walter Rothschild. — Mounted specimens of 

 a male and female Californian Sea-Eiephant, from the island 

 of Guadalupe (off the west coast of Lower California), and of a 

 male Sea-Lion from California. 



From the Trustees of the Percy Sladen Fund. — A large 

 collection of reptiles, batrachians, and fishes, from the Seychelles, 

 Chagos Islands, and the Indian Ocean, made by Mr. J. Stanley 

 Gardiner, f.r.s., leader of an expedition sent to the Indian 

 Ocean in 1905. 



From Mr. G. M. Norrie.— A fine mounted head of an African 

 Elephant of the Uganda race. 



From Mr. C. D. Sherborn. — A very valuable collection of 

 specimens of the handwritings of naturalists, consisting of some 

 8,000 letters and other documents on Natural History subjects, 

 many relating to objects in the Natural History Museum ; and 

 a copy of the important work " Bibliographic de la France, 

 1811-50." 



From the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture. — 25 models, 

 by Mr. Yastagh, of various animals, from the recent Hungarian 

 Exhibition in London. 



From Mrs. R. P. Murray. — The extensive herbarium made 

 by her husband, the late Rev. R. P. Murray, comprising about 

 15,000 sheets, and of special value on account of the large 

 collection of Canary Island plants, on which Mr. Murray was a 

 recognized authority. 



From Miss E. N. Gwatkin. — A collection of 270 coloured 

 drawings of British plants, executed by herself. 



Purchases. 



Among the more important purchases made during the 

 year, special mention may be made of the following : — 



A series of 500 small mammals from Spain and the Riviera, 

 collected, by Mr. Gerrit Miller ; the third and fourth portions 

 102. G 



