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



A collection of Tertiary Plant remains, from the pipe-clay and fresh-water marls of Alum 

 Bay and Hempstead, in the Isle of Wight. 



Several choice coal [ilants from Dalkeith. 



A large slab covered with the branching fronds o£ Alet/wpieris lonchitidis, from Newcastle 

 and a fine example of Pecopteris Pluckenetil, from SlafFordshire. 



Dming the past year three thousand and fifty-three specimens have been submitted to 

 examination, labelled, and entered in the Inventory, viz. : — 



Plants _-----____ 183 



Foraminifera ---______ qq 



Radiata - - - - - - - - - - 315 



Testacea __________ y^Q 



Crustacea _--- --___ q(^q 



Insects ---_---___ 15 



Vertebra ta - - - - - - - - - 990 



3,053 



Many of tne larger specimens have been mounted in frames, and those that have required 

 it have been in the hands of the mason to be developed by the chisel, so as to display parts 

 previously hidden in the stony mairix. The smaller objects have been mounted on tablets. 



Of tlie fossil plants above enumerated, nearly the uhole have been exhibited in the Cases 

 of Room I., in addition to which many plains of large size have been added to the series 

 exhibited en the tops of the cases in the same room, the whoie of which series has been 

 cleaned and re-arranged. 



The Foraminifera obtained during the year, tOi:eUier with others previously in the Museum 

 have been colUcled together, and displayed in a table rase in Room V. 



Nearly the whole of the Radiata are ananged in the New Room, 



The insects lave been incorporated in the general collection in Room V. 



Of the very extensive additions made to the Crustaceans, about two-thirds of the 

 specimens have been arranged in the cases; but of these a small portion only are exhibited 

 the remainder being placed in the cases of the New Room, which is not yet open to the 

 public, though accessible to the student. 



Through want of space, it has been impossible to incorporate more than half the recently 

 acquired species of Testacea in the general collection, and this has only been accomplished 

 in many instances, by the removal of less interesting specimens. 



The whole of the additions to the Vertebrate series obtained during the year, have been 

 numbered and catalogued, together with nearly 400 specimens previously acquired. Some 

 of the more striking specimens have, by a partial re-arrangement of the collection, found 

 plajes in the gallery, but the greater portion is necessarily arranged in drawers. 



Geo. R. Waterhouse. 



Department of Mineralogy. 



The Mineral Department has received valuable additions during the year 1863. They 

 amount in number to 667 specimens. From the absence of the means of performing 

 chemical analysis, the employment of scientific method in the description and arrangement 

 of the Collection is still confined to the use of the goniometer and the polarising microscope. 

 This crystallographic study of the Ccillection has made valuable progress, and a large 

 number of specimens belonging; to the more important species have now had the crystal- 

 lographic indices inscribed upon their planes, or otherwise visibly indicated. 



A new vertical case has been given to the Aerolites (or Stony Meteorites). A great 

 number of these bodies have been cut and polished, to exhibit their structure, and are now 

 arranged in the new case. A similar case will contain the iron Meteorites. Two half- 

 table cases, in Room II., have been filled with a very illustrative series of pseudo-morphous 

 Minerals, that has been for some time in the course of formation. 



Some slight changes have been introduced in the arrangement, in accordance with the 

 progress of science, while the incorporation of new acquisitions and the shifting and more 

 fully labelling of old ones, have been regularly performed. A new Catalogue of the 

 Aerolite Collection has been published, and an ali)habetical list of all the Mineral 

 species, with their synonyms, and the names of their varieties, with references to the cases 

 that contain them, has been printed. Among the important additions to the Collection 

 have been the following : — 



Presentations. — A very interesting Siderolite (or iron Meteorite, containing stony matter) 

 has been presented by Taylour Thompson, Esq., Her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires and 



Consul 



