12 BRITISH MUSEUM. 



protective measures the flamingo population of Andros Island in the 

 Bahamas is reported to have at least doubled within three years, having 

 previously been in danger of extermination. 



Several coiiections of small mammals believed to be implicated 

 in the spread of such diseases as Plague, Yellow Fever, and Kala-Azar 

 were received from China, South America, and West Africa, and were 

 examined and reported upon. Assistance by the identification of 

 feathers was given throughout the year to the authorities concerned 

 with the administration of the Plumage Act, and Mr. P. R. Lowe, 

 O.B.E., continued to serve on the Advisory Committee appointed by 

 the Home Secretary under the Wild Birds Protection i^cts. Mr. Lowe 

 also rejjresented the Museum and the British Government at the 

 Sixth International Ornithological Congress, held at Copenhagen in 

 May, where he served on a Committee appointed to consider the 

 increasingly serious problem presented by the menace to sea-birds of 

 the discharge of oil from ships, and by the threatened extermination 

 of wild waterfowl in parts of Europe as the result of over-exploitation 

 for commercial purposes. Numerous molluscs, mites, ticks, and 

 parasitic worms formed the subjects of investigations undertaken by 

 members of the staff of the Departm_ent of Zoology in response to 

 appeals for advice from those concerned with the depredations of these 

 animals. 



In the Department of Entomology enquiries from numerous corre- 

 spondents, including Sanitary Officers, Medical Officers of Health, and 

 Public Health Departments, relating to species of economic importance 

 were dealt with ; and in several instances, by special request of the 

 local Medical Officer of Health or other authority, visits were paid to 

 buildings infested by injurious insects, for the purposes of investigation 

 and giving advice. Information most in demand concerned the 

 control of household j^ests such as house-flies, ants, fleas, cockroaches, 

 and furniture-beetles. Other enquiries had reference to the death- 

 watch beetle in the roof-timbers of churches, weevils in maize and 

 cattle-cake, and clothes-moth larvae in furs, etc. Information and 

 advice concerning pests of stored products, clothing, etc., and with 

 respect to proposed co-operation with the Mexican Government in 

 locust control in Central America, were supplied to various Government 

 Departments. In addition, visits were paid to certain London parks 

 and gardens, for the purpose of investigation and reporting upon the 

 question of mosquito-breeding therein. 



The Botanical Department was consulted during the year with 

 regard to numerous problems, including methods of dealing with algae 

 and fungi in water supplies , imperfections in tobacco, rot in timber, 

 and destruction by fungi of parchment ; much time and attention 

 were devoted to diseases caused by fungi in man, domestic animals, fish, 

 gam^e, and plants, and the causative fungi were identified in instances 

 of imperfections of cider, cement, dog biscuits, paint, waU paper, 

 pictures, and fibres. The Dejjartment was also consulted in connection 

 with the growth of lucerne and the nomenclature of varieties of the 

 tea-plant. 



Acqitisitions. 

 The number of acquisitions in the several Departments during the 

 >'ear, apart from books, and excluding the Oberthiir collection of Lepi- 

 doptera, the Christy collection of Fishes from Nyasa, not yet incor- 

 porated, and the collections made by the British Museum East Africa 



I 



