BEITISH MUSEUM (NATUEAL HISTORY) 15 



In the Department of Geology work was done on the Pleistocene 

 Mammalian faunas of East Africa, elephants from the Thames Valley, 

 Karroo reptiles from South Africa, Amphibia from Nova Scotia, 

 Devonian Ostracoderms, Eocene Fishes from Italy, British Tertiary 

 Gastropoda and Lamellibranchia, Triassic Ammonoidea, and Upper 

 Carboniferous plants. 112 thin sections of various fossils were made 

 for the purpose of study. 



In the Department of Mineralogy a further study was made of silica- 

 glass from the Libyan Desert, and optical, crystallographic, and vapour- 

 pressure work on scolecite was carried out in continuation of last year's 

 work on the zeolites. Further reports were made on rocks from Nyasa- 

 land and Kenya Colony, and reports were made on rock collections 

 from the New Hebrides, and from the British Solomon Islands. 



During the past year 32,098 specimens were incorporated in the 

 collections in the Department of Botany. The rearrangement of the 

 General Herbarium was continued, and in the European Herbarium the 

 Herbaria of Gadeceau, Granvick, Lacaita, A. H. Maude, Monteiro, and 

 the Spanish collections of Sennen were incorporated and arranged for 

 examination. In the British Herbarium the arrangement of the out- 

 standing material into supplementary collections was continued, and 

 the Herbaria of W. C. Barton, E. Cooper, and A. H. Maude, were 

 incorporated in them. 



Congresses, etc. 



Dr. C. Tate Regan, F.R.S. and Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith represented 

 the Museum at the Annual Conference of the Museums Association at 

 Bristol in July, and Dr. Herbert Smith was present also as the repre- 

 sentative of the Museum at the Eleventh Annual Conference of the 

 Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux at Oxford 

 in September. Mr. A. C. Townsend attended, as the Museum delegate, 

 the 57th Annual Conference of the Library Association in London in 

 September. Dr. C. Tate Regan represented the Museum at the opening 

 of the RadclifFe (Science) Library, Oxford, by Her Royal Highness the 

 Princess Royal in November. 



The Director and several members of the scientific staff attended the 

 meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen in September. 



Advisory and Economic Activities. 



Dr. C. Tate Regan, F.R.S. was invited by the Economic Advisory 

 Council to serve on a committee to consider the protection of the fauna 

 and flora of Asia. He was also appointed a member of the Advisory 

 Committee on Fishery Research under the Development Commission. 



In the Mammal section of the Department of Zoology a great deal of 

 attention was given to economic matters, among which may be men- 

 tioned the spread of musk rats, nutria and other foreign mammals over 

 various parts of the British Isles ; the re-colonization of London and 

 other towns by the Black Rat {Rattus rattus) ; questions relating to 

 whaling and sealing ; problems relating to the preservation of the 

 larger mammals in Africa and in Asia ; and to the activities of the fur 

 and skin trades in all parts of the world. Commercial reptile skins 

 submitted by the Advisory Council on Plant and Animal Products of 

 the Imperial Institute were identified, and information concerning 



