ACCOUNTS, kc, OF THE URITISII MUSEUM. 25 



class in the Insect Room is in a good state of preservation, and well arranged and disposed 

 for 'study and comparison. 



The more remarkable examples of the classes Crustacea and Araclmida have been 

 selected for exhibition in the small proportion of the public gallery available for that 

 purpose ; the bulk of the specimens of both classes is kept in store, under conditions of 

 good preservation, and available for examination and study. 



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

 -with that stored in boxes and drawers, and the smaller proportion preserved in spirits, 

 are in a good state of 2)reservation. 



The specimens of the classes Acaleplia and Annelida, together with other soft-bodied 

 Invertebrates, preserved in alcohol, being, as regards the only available locality for 

 storage, under the same deteriorating conditions as have been noted in former Annual 

 Reports as affecting the Reptilia and Pisces, cannot be so favourably reported of as could 

 be the case if the care and pains in their preservation were bestowed imder conditions of 

 more space, cooler and steadier temperature and better light. 



The Corals and other Radiata in the i)ublic galleries continue to occupy detached 

 glazed cases of such size and in such spaces in the Mammalian Gallery as occasion least 

 obstruction to the circulation of visitors ; consequently, the serial juxtaposition of the 

 specimens, exemplifying, as in the Ornithology and Conchology, the progression of affini- 

 ties and gradual mutation of characters cannot be carried out. All the specimens are in 

 good preservation. 



The now large collection of Osteological Specimens, human and comparative, is in a 

 state of preservation ; but the only space available for its storage is too restricted and 

 obscure for the facilities needed in its scientific study and applications. All the speci- 

 mens are in a state fit for future systematic display, and, as regards the entire skeletons, 

 for articulation. 



The exhibited series of Horns and Antlers, of Nests and Nidamcntal Structures, and 

 of the British Natural History, are severally in a good state of preservation ; but as 

 to arrangement, present conditions of space necessitate the display of the characteristic 

 weapons of the hoofed Mammals apart from the stuffed specimens and skeletons of the 

 species to which they belong. 



The exhibited portion of the series of the Fossil Remains is well arranged, and instruc- 

 tively labelled. The portion kept in store continues to be partly arranged in glazed 

 cases in a recess to which the public have not access, partly in drawers, but accessible to 

 the student, and available for scientific comparison. All the Geological specimens, 

 whether exhibited or in store, are in a good state of preservation. Most of the Fossils, 

 especially those belonging to the Mammalian and Reptilian classes, have had their con- 

 dition in respect of instructive display of characters improved since their reception in 

 the Museum, by careful removal of matrix, readjustment and cementing of separated 

 fragments. 



The larger proportion of the series of Mineralogy is publicly exhibited under condi- 

 tions of arrangement, with illustrative models and indices, and with generic and specific 

 labelling, and notes of localities, facilitating study and scientific applications. All the 

 minerals displayed and kept in store are in a perfect state of preservation. 



Progress in the arrangement of the exhibited proportions of the Natural History col- 

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

 specimens for inferior ones in these respects, which have been relegated to the series in 

 store. 



Discoveries of new species, and further insight into the structure and habits of known 

 ones, modify views of their zoological relations, and suggest improvements of classifica- 

 tion. Where changes so proposed have received general sanction, and, on apparently 

 sufficient grounds, corresponding alterations have been made in the arrangement of 

 specimens to the extent of space available for that purpose. 



Amongst the additions to the Department of Zoology, the most instructive are the 

 specimens of a Fish from the Fitzroy and Mary Rivers of Queensland, Australia. The 

 interest of the Ceratodus Forsteri arises, first, from the genus beino- previously known 

 only in a fossil state, and that by petrified fragments characteristic of old Mezozoic 

 deposits, the Trias and Lias : secondly, from the rare modifications of structure vvhich 

 anatomical investigation of the specimens received at the Museum has brought to light, 

 having important bearing upon the characters and classification of fishes generally : and, 

 lastly, by the additional instance it affords of organic types, which have passed away at 

 an incalculably remote period in Europe, still lingering in life at the Antipodes. For, as 

 the Australian Myrmecohius represents the extinct Amphitherium of tJic Oxfordshire 

 Oolite, and as the Port-Jackson Shark ( Cestracion) similarly represents the Mezozoic 

 Hybodonts of England ; so the Ceratodus of the Queensland rivers has brought to light 

 the organization and status of the problematical fishes with antler-like dental masses or 

 " palates," hitherto known only thereby, as petrifactions in limestones, and other beds of 

 liassic and triassic ages. 



In the collection of Reptiles obtained by Sir H. Barkly, k.C.b., in the small island 

 (Round Island) near the Mauritius, and presented by Sir Henry to the British Museum, 

 the series of Casarea, a Python-like serpent peculiar to that locality, is especially deserv- 

 ing of notice. 



272. D The 



