22 BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 



have been made for a number of members of the departmental staffs to 

 assist in this work. Progress was made during the year with the re- 

 arrangement of the exhibits in the Central and North Halls, and the 

 preparation was begun of plans for a re -arrangement of some of the 

 Invertebrate Galleries and for an entirely new Insect Gallery. Owing 

 to circumstances beyond control the rate at which these proposed altera- 

 tions has proceeded has been somewhat retarded. 



In the Department of Zoology, the most notable addition to the 

 exhibition was a life-sized model of a ninety-foot Blue Whale. Technical 

 advice was given by H.M. Office of Works in connexion with the con- 

 struction of the framework and suspension of this model, which is ex- 

 hibited in the Whale Hall. 



In the Department of- Geology, a skeleton of the small rhinoceros, 

 Diceratherium cooici, from the Miocene of Nebraska, was mounted and 

 placed in the Fossil Mammal Gallery. An exhibit of Carboniferous and 

 Liassic fishes was arranged, including a systematic series, and the British 

 Corallian gastropods and lamelhbranchs, and the Cretaceous and Tertiary 

 brachiopods were rearranged. 



In the Department of Mineralogy, five cases outside the entrance to 

 the gallery have been rearranged and now contain exhibits of large 

 crystals of beryl and of calcite, queer forms of basalt lava, and two new 

 meteorite exhibits. The Otumpa haeteoritic iron, weighing 1,400 lb. 

 has been set up near these cases. The fluorescence exhibit has been 

 improved by the provision of a new ultra-violet lamp burning con- 

 tinuously from 11.0 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Inside the gallery the plan of 

 internal hghting of waUcases was continued. A new exhibit was arranged 

 to illustrate crystal structure and crystal symmetry and the exhibit of 

 diamonds was improved. A book, containing brief descriptions of the 

 common minerals, has been provided for pubhc reference. 



Study Collections. 



The usual work of naming, labelling, registering and incorporating 

 accessions has continued in all Departments. As in previous years, the 

 Trustees are much indebted to numerous workers who have given their 

 services voluntarily, many of whom worked continuously throughout the 

 year. Research workers were given access to the collections, and were 

 assisted in their investigations. 



In the Department of Zoology the most important change in the 

 study collections was the removal of the entire fish collection from the 

 old to the new spirit building, during which many of the bottles were 

 refilled with fresh spirit. Much labeUing and indexing of this collection 

 still remains to be done. The working out of large and important acces- 

 sions from various Antarctic and other expeditions occupied a great 

 deal of the time of the staff of the Department. 



In the Department of Entomology the reorganization of the British 

 collections of Lepidoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera was further 

 advanced and considerable taxonomic work was carried out on the 

 Diptera, accompanied by work on the collections brought back by the 

 Ruwenzori and British Guiana expeditions. In the Lepidoptera the 

 arrangement of the Nymphalidae and Hesperiidse is now practically 

 up to date. The Microlepidoptera were enriched by the extremely 

 valuable Edward Meyrick collection of over 100,000 specimens. Work 

 on the Coleoptera was mainly confined to Carabidse, Cerambycidse, and 



