18 BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 



In the Department of Zoology advice or assistance was given to various 

 Government Departments, public bodies, companies, and individuals 

 regarding rats, mice, bats, and introduced mammals in Britain. Inquiries 

 concerning leather, fur, wool, etc., were dealt with, and matters relating 

 to the protection or control of seals, to whaling, and to big game in Africa 

 and Asia also received much attention. In connexion with the proposed 

 Air Force Range on the Chesil Bank, Mr. N. B. Kinnear accompanied a 

 deputation, arranged by the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, 

 to see aerial bombing and firing at Wisbech. Suggestions, which it is 

 hoped will lead to a more precise knowledge of the status of the individual 

 species concerned, were made to the Imperial Institute with regard to the 

 collection of statistics of the trade in reptile skins, and information con- 

 cerning certain vipers which were an active menace to men engaged in 

 constructional work was sent to the Medical Officer of the Royal Air Force, 

 Aden. The importance of Liponyssus bacoti, the rat mite, was still evident, 

 and an effort was made to get into touch with other workers in this field 

 and with Public Health authorities. Considerable work was also involved 

 in revising the pamphlet on " Species of Arachnida and Myriapoda 

 injurious to Man " ; inquiries were answered concerning the Molluscan 

 vectors of Schistosoma, the destruction of slugs, the activities of marine- 

 boring Mollusca, and worms of economic importance. 



In the Department of Entomology advice was given with regard to 

 many household, commercial, and agricultural pests, and work in 

 connexion with the bed-bug campaign was energetically continued in 

 co-operation with the Ministry of Health and the Medical Research 

 Council. 



Libraries. 



In the General Library a further transference of books was made from 

 the main gallery to the iron gallery and the basement, only those volumes 

 of periodicals dated since 1911 being now available in the main gallery 

 and in the Central Hall bay outside the General Library door. 



During the year 118 books, 1,636 volumes of periodicals, and 28 maps 

 were acquired by purchase and presentation, and of the periodicals 60 

 were new to the hbrary. The cataloguing of accessions for the whole 

 Museum was carried out in the General Library, 1,622 books and 41 maps 

 being dealt with during 1935. 



Among the gifts received were : — 



From the Managing Secretary of the Indian Science Congress : twenty- 

 one volumes of the ' Proceedings of the Congress,' 1914-34. 



From the National Research Council, Ottawa : five volumes of the 

 ' Proceedings of the Fifth Pacific Science Congress, held in Canada, 1934.' 



From Mr. C. L. Cannon, Yale University Library : the rare Volume I, 

 Part 1, 1810, of the 'Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences.' 



From the Academie Malgache : eleven volumes of its ' Bulletin ' and 

 three of its ' Memoires,' completing the set in this Library. 



From the Board of Editors^ ' Current Science,' Indian Institute of 

 Science, Bangalore : four volumes of ' Current Science,' 1932-35. 



From the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft : sixteen volumes of the 

 ' Scientific results of the German Expedition to the Atlantic in the 

 Meteor,' 1925-27. 



