14 . BRITISH MUSEUM. 



From Dr. C. T. Trechmann : About 4,200 mineral specimens 

 brought together by his father, the late Dr. Charles Otto Trechmann, 

 and valued at over £1,000 ; also a fine cabinet, mineralogical and 

 entomological books and pamphlets, and a microscope. 



From the Potgietersrust Platinum Mining Company : An extra- 

 ordinarily large crystal of Sj)errylite. 



From Mr. E. J. Dunn : The fine and valuable collection of Tek- 

 tites formed by him and for some time exhibited on loan in the 

 Mineral Gallery. 



Important bequests to the Museum included the late Mr. William 

 Archbald's collection of about 15,000 specimens of Lepidoptera ; 

 the late Mr. George Lewis's collection of 12,582 Coleoptera ; and the 

 late Lieut. -Colonel F. R. Winn Sampson's collection of Coleoptera, 

 comprising about 11,000 s]3ecimens and 1,400 microscope preparations, 

 together with selections from his books and papers, and tv/o micro- 

 scopes. Sixteen mounted specimens of mammals were presented to 

 the Museum during the year Tinder tlie terms of the Rowland Ward 

 Bequest. 



The Trustees concluded, towards the end of the year, arrangements 

 for the purchase of the whole of the very fine collection of Lepidoptera 

 formed by the late M. Charles Oberthiir of Rennes, with the exception 

 of some thousands of specimens already sold. The specimens purchased 

 number about 800,000, among which are many thousands of types. 

 Only a small portion of the collection arrived at the Museum before 

 the end of the year. 



Other important purchases included a life-sized bronze portrait 

 bust by Gaston Deprez of the late Jean Henri Fabre ; collections of 

 mammals from the Amazon and from Bolivia ; 600 birds from Came- 

 roon ; fishes, crustaceans, etc., from French Guiana and from the 

 Amazon ; the remainder, comprising about 21,000 specimens, of the 

 late Colonel Swinhoe's collection of Lepidoptera ; a collection of 

 8,430 specimens of Coleoptera ; the collections of Fossil Invertebrates 

 formed by the late A. W. Rowe and the late G. W. Lamplugh, F.R.S. ; 

 700 ammonites from Bavaria and Wiirtemburg and 426 graptolites 

 from the Middle Silurian of Thuringia ; pieces of a number of meteor- 

 ites ; a series of specimens of the wheats of the world representing 

 1,300 different forms ; a collection made by Prof. A. Baldacci of 

 5,414 plants from Albania and other parts of the Balkans ; Mr. David 

 McArdle's collection of 3,108 mosses and 4,337 hepatics from Ireland : 

 the Braithwaite herbarium of mosses ; and collections of plants from 

 Borneo and Hungary. 



Collecting Ex2jeditions. 

 The work of the East Africa Expedition was continued throughout 

 the year at Tendaguru under Mr. F. W. H. Migeod and Major T. 

 Deacon. Large consignments of fossils reached the Museum, but 

 time had not permitted of their being thoroughly unpacked and 

 examined before the end of the year. 



Major Cuthbert Christy obtained in the course of his expedition to 

 Lake Nyasa some 8,000 specimens of fishes, the majority of them 

 belonging to the family Cichlidae. They included a number of new 

 genera and s^jecies as well as good series of specimens of many species 

 previously known from unique types or from two or three specimens 



