50 ACCOUNTS, ESTIMATES, ScC. OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Depaktments of Natueal History. 



The Departments of Natural History have received, in the year 1867, 91,228 additional 

 specimens. 



Of these, 90,850 have been entered, with distinctive mark and number in the MS. 

 " Register of Accessions," the " habitat " or native locality of each species, and the circum- 

 stances of its acquisition by the British Museum, being therein noted. 



Progress in the arrangement of the exhibited portions of the Natural History Collec- 

 tions has consisted chiefly in the substitution of better, rarer and more instructive 

 specimens for inferior ones relegated to the series in store. 



The stuffed specimens of the class Mammalia have been kept in a state of preservation 

 without other deterioration than is inevitable in regard to those exhibited specimens for 

 which there is i:. t accommodation in the glazed cabinets. 



The unstuffed skins of the Mammalia in store are in such a state of preservation as to 

 subserve the purposes of scientific examination and comparison, and most of them are in 

 a state fit for future preparation and exhibition. 



The portion of the collection of Birds, skins and skeletons, mounted and exhibited in 

 systematic order, is in a good state of preservation. Most of the Bird Cabinets in the 

 public gallery are now more crowded than is consistent with facility of comparison and 

 study, or with easy access for detailed examination of the specimens. 



The remainder of the Collection of Bird-skins unmounted, in storage, preserved in 

 boxes and cupboards in the basement vaults, is in a state of preservation available for the 

 purposes of study and comparison of characters, but in a certain proportion not readily 

 accessible for such uses, this locality, also, becoming crowded. 



The portion of the collection of Reptiles and Fishes preserved and displayed, is in a 

 good state of preservation. The greater portion of this collection, including the bulk of 

 the specimens of Lizards, of Serpents and Fishes, is stored in the basement vaults in a 

 • space so crowded as to oppose difficulties to their access for scientific study and com- 

 parison. 



Such stored specimens are preserved in alcohol, and the great variation of temperature, 

 and occasional heat of the locality, occasion rapid evaporation and deterioration of the 

 preserving liquor, accelerating decay. Registered specimens, when so far dissolved and 

 decomposed as to lose character, are removed, the fact and cause being noted in the 

 " Register," but in every case in which the bony texture is firm enough for dry preserva^ 

 tion, more or less of the skeleton is transferred to the Osteological series. 



The portion of the series of the Shells of the Molluscous animals, arranged and exhibited 

 in the public gallery, is in a good state of preservation, well placed, displayed and labelled, 

 for instruction and reference. 



This series gives an epitome of conchology, and models of the soft parts of the species, 

 or fabricators of the shells, are added to exemplify the characters of the leading groups of 

 the MoHusca. The Shell series has been made more instructive and attractive by in- 

 corporation of sjjecimens of the Cumingian Collection, acquired in 1866, either as addi- 

 tions or substitutions for inferior and faded specimens. 



The small portion of the class Insecta publicly displayed, is in a good state of preserva- 

 tion, and is Instructively arranged and labelled. The very large portion of the class in the 

 Basement Entomological Store-room is in a good state of preservation, and so arranged 

 in drawers as to be accessible for study and comparison. 



The portion of the class Echinodermata exhibited and arranged systematically, together 

 with that stored in drawers and boxes, is in a good state of preservation. 



The specimens of the class Acalepha, together with the other soft-bodied invertebrate 

 animals, stored and kept in alcohol, being, as regards the only available locality, under 

 the same deteriorating conditions as affect the stored specimens of Reptilia and Pisces, 

 cannot be so favourably reported of as would be the case if the care and pains in their 

 preservation were bestowed under conditions of more space, cooler and steadier tempera- 

 ture, and better light. 



The Corals and other Radiata in the Public Galleries occupy detached glazed cases of 

 such size and in such spaces as occasion least obstruction to the gangways and other 

 interspaces left for the passage of visitors ; consequently, the serial juxtaposition, exem- 

 plifying — as in the Ornithology and Conchology — the order of progressive affinities, 

 cannot be carried out. 



The Collection of the Osteological Specimens, human and comparative, is in a state of 

 preservation. The additions to this series continue to be numerous, and, in the restricted 

 basement space available for storing this Collection, the obstacles to its application in the 

 comparison of fossil and recent bones, annually increase. All the specimens are preserved 

 in a state fit for future systematic display ; and as regards the entire skeletons, for articu- 

 lation, when a Gallery for their exhibition may be provided. 



The exhibited series of Nests and Nidamentai structures, and of the British Natural 

 History, are severally in a good state of preservation and arrangement. 



Present conditions of space necessitate the display of the extensive series of Horns and 

 Antlers of Mammalia apart from the stuffed specimens and skeletons of the species to 

 which they belong or are allied. 



The portion of the series of the Fossil remains which is exhibited, is well arranged and 



instructively 



