l8 ACCOUNTS, ESTIMATES, &C. OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



also now exhibited in the Gallery of Birds, is a species which, if not now extinct, will soon 

 become so in the limited and colonized tract to which it is restricted. 



In the Geological Department the Collection of Fossils, transmitted in 1859 from South 

 Africa by His Excellency Governor Sir George Grey, k.c.b., has brought to light a new 

 sub-generic form {Ptychognathus) of those singular extinct Reptiles which possessed no 

 other teeth than two long and sharp tusks, descending from the upper jaw, as in the Walrus ; 

 also two new genera of Crocodilian Reptiles, Galesaurus and Cynochampsa, with canine and 

 incisor teeth like those of carnivorous Mammals. 



In the instructive series of specimens selected from collections made at Cambridge from 

 the upper Green-sand formations habitually worked, near that town, for phosphatic nodules, 

 the parts of the largest known flying reptile {Pterodactylus SedgwicMi), and of the large 

 Chimaeroid fishes, are specially worthy of note. 



The illustrations of the Geology of the North of England, and especially of Yorkshire, 

 have received important and instructive accessions in the 2,600 specimens selected from 

 the well-known collection of Mr. Bean of Scarborough. 



Although conditions of space, detailed in previous Reports, have led to the utmost reserve 

 in regard to additions, through offers of sale and gift, the increasing field of discovery and 

 zeal of collectors have rendered it a matter of duty to add in the past year to the Zoological 

 Department, 33,307 specimens; to the Geological Department, 3,550 specimens; and to 

 the Mineialogical Department, 3,186 specimens. A few of the most remarkable of these 

 additions have seemed worthy of special notice ; their general nature, and the sources whence 

 they have been derived, are given in tlie following Reports of the respective Keepers. 



Richard Owen, 

 Superintendent of the Natural History Departments. 



Depaetment of Zoology. 



The part of the Collection which is exhibited in the public rooms to afFord the general 

 visitor a popular view of the Animal Kingdom, has been carefully cleaned, examined, and 

 greatly extended. 



Some separate cases of remarkable Birds have been placed in the Bird Gallery : as, 

 several species of Paradise Birds from Aru and New Guinea ; a series of Nestorine Parrots 

 from New Zealand and Phillips' Island, and also of the Notornis Mantelli, of New Zealand, 

 which are becoming, or have become extinct. 



The large Collection of Skins of Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Fish, which are kept 

 unstuffed in drawers and presses for more easy examination and comparison by the pro- 

 fessional zoologist and scientific student, together with the very extensive Collection of 

 Skeletons of Vertebrated Animals, and the Collection of Invertebrated Molluscous, Annulose, 

 and Radiated Animals, preserved in spirits, contained in many thousand bottles, which 

 are kejjt in rooms in the basement, and are available for the use of the scientific students, 

 have been cleaned, verified, and many of them re-arranged. This has been more par- 

 ticularly the case with the Animals in spirits, which it was necessary to move out of their 

 cases and re-arrange, in order to place new bottoms to the cases, the old ones having been 

 attacked with dry-rot. 



The Insects and Crustacea of the General Collection, preserved in cabinets in a separate 

 ropm in the basement, under the Print-room, accessible to students and more advanced entomo- 

 logists, have received very large accessions. These additional specimens have been arranged 

 in their appropriate places in the general system, and those parts of the Collection which 

 had become over-crowded, or on which some new work or catalogue has been published, 

 have been entirely re-arranged, as, for example, the Collection of European and the Col- 

 lection of British Coleoptera, the Collection of Orthoptera, and of the Ichneumonidse and 

 Tenthredinidse, 



During the year 1859 there have been added to the several parts of the Zoological 

 Collection 33,307 specimens of animals, viz.: 



Vertebrated Animals ------- 2,914 



Molluscous and Radiated Animals - - - - 5,282 



Annulose Animals ------- 25,111 



Total - - - - 33,307 



A considerable portion of these specimens are the types of species described in various 

 scientific works and periodicals, independently of the very large number of specimens 

 which have been described during the year by the officers of the establishment, in the 

 Catalogues published by the Trustees, and in various transactions and periodicals of 

 scientific societies, which render the specimens, so described, of typical importance. 



The 33,307 specimens added to the Collection, have been each regularly marked and 

 described in the Manuscript Register of Accessions, with an account from whence and how 

 they weie derived, which adds very greatly to their value, as giving the history of each 

 specimen; and they have all been either systematically arranged in their places in the' 

 rooms exhibited to the public, or have been set aside as special objects of study. 



•• -'The 



