t8 ACCOUNTS, ESTIMATES, &C. OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



The dried specimens of Fishes are arranged in and above the wall-cabinets of the fourth 

 and fifth divisions of the Northern Zoological Gallery, and occupy all the space that can 

 be there allotted to iheni. They illustrate the orders and families of the class, and such a 

 proportion of the genera as the limits of space will allow. The C;irtil.ii^inous Fisii's occupy 

 the smaller room. 'A skeleton of the large Arapaima (Sud'is) giga^ exemplifies that complex 

 part in an osseous lish. 



Mollusca and Radiata. — These invertebrate animals are chiefly represented by their shells , 

 and other calcareous parts ; a certain proportion is preserved in spirit ; a few of the Mol- 

 lusca are represented by coloured wax models of the entire animal. All these specimens are 

 in a good state of preservation. 



The systematic series of the shells of the Mollusca, with the subsidiary series, iilustr.Uive 

 of their economic uses, and the effects of disease and injury, has received during the past 

 year such improvement as the allotted space would admit, by the addition of species, and by 

 the substitution of better for inferior shells. The additions to the general collection of 

 Mollusca, a portion of which is preserved in drawers, have been numerous and important 

 during the past year, as is specified in the Report of the Keeper of Zoology. 



Insecta. — Owing to the action of light upon the colour of Insects, such a portion of 

 the collection only is exposed to view as serves to exemplify the orders and chief families of 

 the class. 



The specimens selected for this purpose are changed from time to time, and the present 

 series displayed well exhibits, for the most part, the characteristic colours of the insect. 



The very large proportion of the class preserved in drawers is in an excellent state of pre- 

 servation; but additional space now begins to be much needed for a more convenient loca- 

 tion of the drawers, in order to afibrd the desired facility to the Entomological visitor, with 

 due safety to the specimens. 



Amongst the numerous additions during the past year to the Collection of Insects very 

 many would be deemed by the Entomologist worthy of special note ; but I limit myself to 

 the mention of the Tsetse Fly {Glossina morsitans), notable for the deadly effects of its 

 puncture on horses and cattle, so as to forma barrier to the traveller's progress, according to 

 the accounts given by Dr. Livingstone and other travellers in South Africa. The insects of 

 Madeira, collected in that island by Dr. Wollaston, and now acquired by the Museum, 

 illustrate that part of its Fauna almost as completely as the Fauna of England is illustrated 

 by the Collection of British Insects. 



Geology and Mineralogy. — The condition of the Collection in these Departments, in 

 respect to their state of preservation, leaves nothing to be desired. 



Amongst the numerous additions to the series of Fossil Remains during the past year, 

 those of the extinct Mammalia, from Australia, merit, as they have received in the Report of 

 the Keeper of Geology, especial notice. The Kangaroo, the Wombat, and the carnivorous 

 Dasyure, have been repreisented in a period (apparently post-pliocene) preceding the pre- 

 sent epoch, by much larger species than now exist ; and these extinct species co-existed 

 with still more gigantic forms of Marsupialia, the generic as well as the specific types 

 of which have perished. The Museum collection illustrative of this old Mammalian Fauna 

 of Australia, is at present unique in Europe. 



The series of Fossil Reptiles has received a few vertebrae, demonstrating the former 

 existence of a land lizard, equalling the largest crocodile in size, also from the post-pliocene 

 deposits in Australia. 



The Reptilian Fossils from the Neocomian beds of Kursk, Russia, presented by Colonel 

 Kiprianoff, exemplify the geographical range of extinct species, peculiar to a limited 

 formation. 



Amongst the specimens added by purchase to the Fossil Reptilian Series, the skull of the 

 Placodus, heretofore regarded as a fish, but shown by the characters of such newly acquired 

 specimen to belong to the higher class of cold-blooded animals, from the Triassic beds of 

 Germany, merits a special notice. 



The most important and instructive, as well as extensive collection added to the Geological 

 Department in the present year, is that which was purchased from M. Tesson, of Caen in 

 Normandy. In the Report from the Keeper of Geology reference is made t'> some of the 

 Fossils of the Vertebrate classes. Amongst the invertebrata, the series of Ammonites, chiefly 

 from Normandy, has been examined in detail, and compared with those, from other localities, 

 previously in the Museum. The number of duplicates is extremely small, and these have 

 served to supersede previously exhibited inferior specimens by superior and more instructive 

 ones. 



The Normandy collection of Ammonites includes the type-specimens described by the late 

 Professor d'Orbigny and by other French writers, and its value is enhanced by the 

 careful records of the precise subdivisions of the secondary strata, from which the various 

 specimens have been obtained. In regard to most of the species there is a series of 

 examples illustrative of those changes of form and ornamentation which take place in the 

 course of growth, and which now serve to demonstrate that many previously defined and 



supposed 



