ACCOUNTS, &C. OF BRITISH MUSEUM. 



III. Additiom. — 1. The number of volumes added to the Library amounts to 8,402; of 

 which 497 have been presented ; 2,106 received by copyright, and 5,799 purchased. 



2. The number of parts of volumes is 7,914 ; of which 60 have been presented, 3,187 

 received by copyright, and 4,667 purchased. 



3. The whole forms a total of 16,316 articles, of which an account is taken; of these, 

 5,785 are complete works, 236 of which have been presented, 2,409 received by copyright, 

 and 3,140 purchased. 



IV. Binding. — The number of volumes bound amounts to 4,730, besides 3,172 pamphlets, 

 639 volumes have been repaired, and 1,392 sheets of maps mounted, while 4,445 have been 

 prepared for the binder. 



V. Reading Room Service. — 1. Readers have books taken to them from three different 

 places; 1st, From the shelves in either the King's or General Collection; 2d, From the 

 presses in which books are kept temporarily for such readers as wish to proceed in their 

 study from day to day ; 3d, From the shelves in the Reading Rooms. Of the volumes com- 

 prised under the first and second class, an accurate account is kept; of tloe third, a tolerably 

 correct approximation only can be given. 



2. The number of volumes sent to the Reading Rooms amounts to 243,822, of which 

 126,844 were from the Museum Library, 25,313 from the King's Library, and 91,665 from 

 the presses above described. This makes a daily average of 836 volumes, 435 of which are 

 from the first place, 86 from the second, and 315 from the third. If to these be added 

 250 volumes daily used from the shelves in the Reading Rooms, the average number of 

 books daily used by the public will amount to 1,086 ; the average daily number of readers 

 being 238, it appears that each of them consults nearly five printed books. 



Department of Natural History. 

 Mineralogical Branch. 



Since the last return, the second Room has undergone great alteration in the contents 

 of the Wall Cases, owing to the late additions of Osseous Remains from Dr. Mantell's 

 Collection, and of various large specimens from the Sivalies of the Himalayan Mountains, 

 especially the Crania of an Elephant and Mastodon, the preparation and placing of which 

 has cost much time and labour, and required the re-arrangement of the contents of all the 

 "Wall Cases of that room. 



In the third or Central Room, the Emydosanrians of Mantell's Collection and others have 

 been set up, the extensive suite of the osteology of the Iguanodon occupying a separate 

 Wall Case. Also the great specimen of Plesiosaurus Rugosus from Granby, heretofore 

 reported as a present from the Duke of Rutland, has since been carefully put together and 

 set up in this room, together with the several other species of the same genus in Mr. 

 Hawkins's first and second Collection purchased by Parliament. All the larger specimens 

 of the various species of Ichthyosaurus have been prepared and distributed in and on the 

 tops of the upright Cases of the South, and partly of the East and "West walls of Room I"V^., 

 together with the recent accessions to this natural order from "Whitby and other quarters. 

 In the Central Room have been entirely re-arranged the suites of Metallic Sulphurets on 

 one, and the Carbonates on the other side ; the whole occupying half of the number of 

 table cases with drawers ordered to be made for this room, and of which two-thirds are 

 put up. 



Upwards of 400 specimens have been added to the Manuscript Catalogue of Minerals, 

 Fossils, &c. obtained between the months of December 1840 and December 1841. Among 

 those objects worthy of particular notice may be specified, the Crania of Himalayan Elephants, 

 Mastodon and Hippopotamus, &c., woi'ked out of the surrounding rock ; the remains of 

 Pachydermata from the River Erawada, and those of the Island of Peram, in the Gulf of 

 Cambay ; the head of a new species of Teleosaurus from Whitby ; the osseous remains of 

 a gigantic Saurian (Polyptychodon) lately discovered in the lower green sandstone of 

 Hythe ; the bones from the caves of the province of Minas Geraes in Brazil ; the suite of 

 crystallized Chromate of Lead, and the unique Chrysoberyl, from the same country ; the 

 additions to the collection of Meteoric Iron and Meteorites ; various Sapphires and other 

 gems ; a valuable vessel made of a species of Jade (the stone You of the Chinese), and pre- 

 sented to Lieutenant-Colonel Burney by the King of Ava ; the suite of limpid Topazes and 

 Beryls from Elba, &c. 



Zoological Branch. 



Since Christmas 1840, the arrangement of the Eastern Zoological Gallery has been com- 

 pleted, and the whole opened to the public. The Birds have all been arranged, and their 

 names, habitats and origin are in the course of being affixed to them, and the table cases 

 have been filled with the Shells, which are now under arrangement. 



The cases have been prepared in the Mammalia Saloon for the Carnivorous Quadrupeds, 

 and the specimens will in a few days be placed in them for exhibition, when the Hoofed 

 Mammalia will immediately be arranged for the like purpose in the space the Carnivora 

 now occupy. 



The 



