90 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Commissioners of the Treasury to the trustees for their 

 observations. 



The report recommended, inter alia, the transfer to Kew 

 of the main portion of the botanical collections now at 

 South Kensington. The trus'tees having represented to the 

 Lords of the Treasury that they could not concur in the- 

 recommendations of the Committee, or in the reasons for 

 those recommendations, their Lordships have decided not ta 

 submit the matter to Parliament. 



Antarctic Expedition. 



Mr. George Murray, Keeper of the Department of Botany^ 

 was granted, with the concurrence of the Lords of the 

 Treasury, three months' special leave of absence to enable 

 him to accompany the National Antarctic Expedition for 

 part of the outward voyage of the " Discovery," as a member 

 of the scientific staff of the Expedition. 



Mr. Murray returned to the Museum on the 18th November, 

 bringing with him the marine collections made on the voyage 

 to the Cape of Good Hope, where Mr. Murray left the vessel, 



Nile Fish Survey. 



The Survey of the Fishes of the Nile has been continued by 

 the Egyptian Government, in co-operation with the Trustees. 

 Since the last report Mr. Loat, the Superintendent of the 

 Survey, has explored the White Nile from Omdurman to 

 Lake No, at the junction of the Bahr el Ghazal and the Bahr 

 el Gebel, a distance of nearly 700 miles, and has obtained 

 over 6,000 specimens, representing 92 species. This explora- 

 tion has resulted in the addition of several species to the list 

 of Nile fishes, and in the discovery of ten new species, two of 

 which deserve to be made the types of new genera. Th& 

 number of species of fishes from the Nile now known is 

 about 110. Mr. Boulenger reports that he has described 

 13 new species from Mr. Loafs collections, three being the 

 types of new genera. 



Excavations at Pikermi, Greece. 



With the advice and assistance of His Majesty's Minister 

 at Athens, Sir Edwin H. Egerton, k.c.b., and with the con- 

 currence of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, the 

 Trustees undertook a series of excavations in the Lower 

 Pliocene bone - beds at Pikermi, Attica. Mr. Alexander 

 Skouses, owner of the estate, generously gave permission and 

 all facilities for the work ; and Dr. A. S. Woodward was 

 entrusted with the task. A preliminary promise was made 

 to the University of Athens that a proportion of the unique 

 specimens should be left for the University Museum ; and the 



