12 



BRITISH MUSEUM (nATUBAL HISTORY) 



P. R. Lowe, O.B.E., represented the Museum at the Seventh Inter- 

 national Ornithological Congress at Amsterdam from 1 to 7 June. 

 Major B. E. Austen, D.S.O., visited the International Colonial and 

 Maritime Exhibition, Antwerp, on behalf of the Department of Overseas 

 Trade, to superintend the installation of models of disease -carrying 

 insects. Mr. G. C. Robson and Mr. H. W. Parker were the delegates 

 of the Museum to the Eleventh International Congress of Zoology at 

 Padua in September, Mr. Robson being also one of the official represen- 

 tatives of His Majesty's Government. All members of the scientific 

 staii of the Department of Botany attended the International Botanical 

 Congress held at Cambridge in August. Dr. Anna B. Hastings repre- 

 sented the Museum at a general meeting of the British Waterworks 

 Association held at the Agricultural HaU, Islington, on 20 November. 

 Dr. Caiman was president of the Zoological Section of the British 

 Association which met at Bristol in September. The Director and 

 several members of the scientific staff also attended the meeting. 



Advisory and Economic Activities 



Sir Sidney F. Harmer, K.B.E., F.R.S., continued during the year to 

 represent the Museum on the Colonial Office Committee responsible for 

 the investigations carried out by the " Discovery " Expedition ; and 

 facilities and accommodation were given throughout the year for the 

 working out at the Museum of the " Discovery " collections by the 

 scientific staff of the expedition. Mr. P. R. Lowe, O.B.E., continued 

 to serve on the Advisory Committee appointed by the Home Secretary 

 under the Wild Birds' Protection Acts. 



Demonstrations were given to curators of provincial museums in 

 connexion with the summer school organized by the Museums 

 Association. 



Much information continues to be received through the Foreign 

 Office, the Colonial Office, and the Dominion Office, concerning the 

 protection of African big game. 



Among other economic questions upon which advice was given from 

 the Department of Zoology were the protection and control of 

 elephants in Africa ; the control of the musk-rat ; occurrences of para- 

 sitic worms in man and animals in Nyasaland, Morocco, Algiers, the 

 Sudan, and East Africa ; and the ravages of shipworm at Haifa and 

 Rangoon. In the Entomological Department, work was done in 

 relation to insects causing or transmitting disease, pests of stored 

 products, boring insects, and farm and garden pests. 



Acquisitions 

 The number of acquisitions in the several Departments during the 

 year, apart from specimens received too late for incorporation and from 

 books, was as follows : — 



Department. 



Purchases. 



Donations, 



Exchanges, 



etc. 



Total. 



Zoology 



Entomology 



Geology 



Mineralogy 



Botany 



2,521 

 39.753 



6.895 



338 



11,641 



37,588 



75,786 



4,791 



3,134 



138,087 



40,109 



115,539 



11,686 



3,472 

 149,728 



Totals ... 



61,148 



259,386 



320,634 



