4^ ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSKUM. 



Six slabs of Coal-ferns from the English coal-measures. 

 Base of a sllicified Palm-stem from Antigua. 



The total acquisitions during the past year are as follows: — 



A. Vertebrata : 



I. By Donation _---_--_ 150 

 II. „ Purchase ---_---, 230 



B. Invertebrata : 



I. By Donation - ______ 239 



II. „ Purchase - - - -•_ - _ - 1,239 



C. PLANTiE : 



I. By Donation ---_--__ 57 



II. „ Purchase _-_--_-. 2I 



Total - - - 1,936 



V — Visits from Students. 

 The number of visits from persons who have consulted the collections during the past 

 year for purposes of study, and who have received attention and assistance in their scien- 

 tific work, was 1,755. 



Henry Woodward. 



Department or Mineralogy. 



Since the removal from Bloomsbury, the attention of the Department has been as much 

 as possible directed to the re-arrangement of its Collections, and before the close of 1880 this 

 work was so far completed that the Collection illustrative of mineral species was open to 

 the Student. During the past year, both the Gallery and the Pavilion have been so far 

 put in order, that the general public can be admitted therein without interfering with the final 

 arrangement of the specimens. The alterations of the Index and the Guide, rendered 

 necessary by the transfer of the collections, have been made All the wall-cases, with the 

 exception of one in the Pavilion intended for the exhibition of large specimens of British 

 and Indian minerals, have been supplied with fittings, and since filled, more or less 

 temporarily, with specimens of Rocks. The Meteorites have been compared with the 

 entries in the registers, reweighed, and finally arranged in two new table-cases ; and a 

 Guide, which includes a complete catalogue of the dates of fall and of the weights of these 

 specimens, has been printed. Crystals have been selected to illustrate variety and 

 symmetry of form, and are now exhibited in a large table-case in the Pavilion. The 

 Rock-collection, formerly scattered through the drawers of the old pedestals, has been 

 roughly grouped and arranged in the drawers beneath the new wall-cases ; the large, 

 hitherto unexhibited, specimens of the rocks of Monte Somma, presented by the late 

 Sir W. Hamilton, have been unpacked and placed in one of the wall-cases of the Pavilion. 

 The glazed ends of the old table-cases have been so altered that the panes may be easily 

 removed ; an alteration which has involved the entire removal and subsequent replacement 

 of the large specimens. The old locality-labels had been written at various times, 

 extending over a long series of years, and Avere very much wanting in neatness : upwards 

 of 8,000 of these have been during the year replaced by printed labels of uniform pattern, 

 and the change has afforded an opportunity for making them more precise in geographical 

 definition and more consistent in the spelling. 



Two hundred and ninety separate works, comprising 860 volumes, have been added to 

 the Departmental Library, and a printed Catalogue of the whole of the books at present 

 belonging to the department has been issued. 



The Laboratory has been removed from its old quarters at No. 46 Great Russell-street 

 to the excellent rooms allotted to it in the basement of this Museum. Reports upon the 

 analyses of the Cranbourne, Rowton, and Middlesborough meteorites, and of various 

 alloys have been received during the past year. 



The number of visits recorded as made to the department for the purpose of consultation 

 or study is 609. 



Acquisitions. 

 All the specimens acquired during the past year, involving 720 entries in the general 

 catalogue, have been registered, labelled, and incorporated with the general collection. 



Minerals. 



By Presentation : — 



Specimens of blende containing gallium and mercury, and sections of cerite to show 

 selective absorption : by W. G. Lettsom, Esq. 



Pilolite and wad, from Cabrach, Aberdeenshire : by the Rev. Dr. Gordon. 



Hornstone 



