ACCOUNTS, &,C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 43 



Presented by Dr. Henry Hicks, F.G.S. : — 

 Twenty-six specimens from the district of St. David's, Pembrokeshire ; illustrating 

 those of the Dimetian and Pebidian formations. 



Presented hy John Dixon, Esq. : — 

 A fragment of porphyritic granite detached from Cleopatra's Needle. 



The persons visiting the department for the purposes of consultation or study, whose 

 visits have been recorded, were 886 during the year. 



Nevil Story-Maskelyne. 



Department of Botant. 



The work of incorporating plants in the General Herbarium has been actively carried 

 on during the past year. In its progress the plants belonging to the following 

 Natural Orders have been greatly increased, and more or less completely re-arranged: — 

 MeliacecB, Leguminostz, Lorcmthacea, Araliacece, Ruhiacece, Gesneracea, NepentliacecR, 

 SmilucecB, Restiacece, Filices, and Fungi. 



The following collections have been either entirely or in part incorporated in the 

 General Herbaiium : — The plants collected in Central Africa by Oudney and Clap- 

 ])erton ; of Malaya, collected by Lobb ; of the Samoan Islands, collected by the 

 Kev. S. J. Whitmee ; of Brazil, collected by "Warming and others ; of the Argentine 

 Republic, collected by Lorentz ; of the Arctic Regions, by various collectors ; the Ferns 

 of Africa and Java, by various collectors ; aiid the Cellular plants collected in the 

 " Challenger " Expedition, by Moseley. Besides these, extensive series of plants from 

 various regions and by different collectors belonging to the Orders Legnminosce, 

 Fas&ijiorea, Proteacece, and Filices, have been incorporated with the General Her- 

 barium. 



The separation of the study set of the great Herbarium of Australian Plants, 

 collected by Robert Brown, and bequeathed to the Trustees by J. J, Bennett, has been 

 completed, and this extensive series of plants, accompanied with the original manuscript 

 notes, has been incorporated in the General Herbarium. 



The transcription of the original labels, and the separation of the collection of Tropical 

 African plants made by Dr. Welwitsch, have been completed, with the exception of those 

 relating to the collection of fruits and seeds, which is making rapid progress. 



The large Herbarium of Shuttleworth, acquired in 1877, has been systematically 

 arranged, and some -of the more important desiderata have been incorporated in the 

 General Herbarium. The large series of plants from the Southern States of North 

 America, collected by Rugel, has been separated from this Herbarium, and the Poly- 

 petalous Orders have been placed in the General Herbarium. 



The sheets of the Herbarium of John Ray, presented to the Museum by the Apothe- 

 caries Company, have been carefully re-mounted on cartridge paper, and placed ^for 

 preservation and easy reference in solander cases. 



The whole of the different collections of British Phaenogamous Plants, except those 

 contained in the volumes of the Sloanean Herbarium, have been incorporated in the 

 British Herbarium, and this Herbarium has been completely revised, and re-arranged 

 during the year. Progress is being made in laying down the extensive collection of 

 Mosses of the late W. Wilson. The British Elvellacei have been greatly added to and 

 completely re-arranged. 



The recently-formed Collection of Drawings and Illustrations of Plants has received 

 the large addition of 8,025 engravings, and 42 original drawings : and progress has been 

 made in tlie systematic arrangement of the whole collection for convenient reference. 



The principal additions to the Herbarium dtu'ing the year have been plants from 

 Greece by Pichler, from Palestine by Post, from Eastern Lapland by Fellman, from 

 Sitka by Comrie, from Eastern Tropical Africa by Hlldebrandt, from Western Tropical 

 Africa by Kalbreyer, presented by the Messrs. Veitch ; from Australia, presented by 

 Baron von iMueller; from the Samoan Islands, by Whitmee ; from Rarotonga, by Wyatt 

 Gill ; from Brazil, by Warming, presented by W. P. Hiern, Esq., and illustrating his 

 memoirs on Warming's plants; from Paraguay, by Balansa ; from Uruguay and the 

 Argentine Republic, by Lorentz ; and from Trinidad, by Fendler. 



Collections of Fungi from Saccardo, Rehm, Thueinen, Kunze, Rabenhorst, and 

 Ravenal, have been added to the Herbarium ; and an interesting series of preparations 

 of Mycaidea parasitica, by Dr. Cunningham, in illustration of his Memoir in the Transac- 

 tions of the Linnean Society, has been presented by the Council of that Society. 



Specimens of Algae from Rabenhorst, Wittrock and Nordstedt, and of Hepaticae, 

 from Rabenhorst, have been incorporated in the Herbarium. 



The number of visits during the year 1878, paid to the Herbarium for scientific enouirv 

 or research, was 1,085. 



The folloAving foreign Botanists may be specified as having used the Herbarium in 

 prosecuting their various studies : — Dr. Baillon, of Paris, for his works on Systematic 

 Botany; M. Casimir De Candolle, of Geneva, for his Monograph on 3IeHacea ; Prof. 



170. G 4— Reichenbach, 



