BBITISH MUSEUM (nATUEAL HISTORY) 11 



Decapod Crustacea, Cretaceous cirripedes, Cretaceous echinoderms, 

 Jurassic brachiopods, and Palaeozoic corals. 



In the Department of Minerals a detailed study was made of various 

 meteorites ; work was done on rocks from Brittany and from Fernando 

 Noronha, and various zeolites and minerals from South-West Africa 

 and the Transvaal were studied by X-ray methods. Thirty -six quantita- 

 tive and thirty qualitative analyses were made in the chemical 

 laboratory, and new methods were devised for the analysis of 

 meteorites . 



In the Department of Botany determination and investigation of 

 plants was continued as in previous years. 



Congresses, etc. 



The Centenary Meeting of the British Association was held in London 

 from 23 to 30 September. Section D (Zoology) M^as given accommoda- 

 tion in the Museum, the Reptile Gallery being used as a lecture-room 

 and the new Whale Gallery as an annexe. 



Mr. G. C. Robson and Mr. J. R. Norman attended, as delegates 

 of the Museum, the joint meeting of the Challenger Society and of 

 representatives of Marine Laboratories held at Plymouth on 12 and 13 

 May. Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith, Dr. W. T. Caiman, F.R.S., and Dr. W. E. 

 Swinton represented the Museum at the Annual Conference of the 

 Museums Association which was held at Plymouth from 6 to 10 July. 

 Dr. Herbert Smith also attended the International Congress for the 

 Protection of Nature, held in Paris from 30 June to 4 July, in the dual 

 capacity of delegate of the Museum and official representative of 

 His Majesty's Government, and he represented the Museum at the 

 Annual Conference of the Association of Special Libraries and Informa- 

 tion Bureaux at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, in September. Mr. A. C. 

 Townsend was the delegate of the Museum at the Tenth Conference of 

 the International Institute of Bibliography at the Hague in August. 

 Mr. A. W. McKenny Hughes attended the Deuxieme Congres Inter- 

 national de Pathologie Comparee, held in Paris in October. 



Advisory and Economic Activities. 



In connexion with the training course for curators held in London 

 in October under the auspices of the Museums Association, lectures and 

 demonstrations were given by a number of members of the Museum 

 staff. 



In the Department of Zoology numerous enquiries relating to mites, 

 ticks, and parasitic worms were answered, and specimens were named. 

 Advice was also given on the musk-rat question, whaling and sealing 

 matters, and the corrosion of submarine pipes by Polyzoa and Mollusca. 

 The Department of Entomology continued to co-operate with the 

 Imperial Institute of Entomology. Apart from the assistance given to 

 the Institute, 938 economic enquiries were dealt with by correspondence 

 and 561 by interviews. Pests of grain, cereal products, and fruit, and 

 insects affecting tobacco, received much attention. The timber of 

 Gray's Inn Hall, and of the Great Hall of University College, received 

 detailed examination. In the Department of Botany a large number of 

 queries on plant diseases, destruction of stored products, human fungal 

 diseases, and water pollution were dealt with. 



