ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 39 



Eighty microscopie slides of AlcyonarianSj and 200 of the Spongiidss, have been prepared 

 and incorporated in the collection of microscopic slides. 



V. — Registration. 



All the specimens obtained during the past year have been marked with the date of 

 their acquisition, and a separate number corresponding with an entry in the manuscript 

 register of accessions : in this, for future reference, the name of the collector, the exact 

 locality in which the specimens were collected, the mode of their acquisition, and any 

 other valuable information regarding them, are entered. 



VI. — Departmental Library. 



One thousand three hundred and eighty-three works, consisting of 2,350 volumes, have 

 been added to the Departmental Library, beside continuations of periodicals or of works 

 in progress. All have been entered into the printed Catalogue which, at jiresent, is 

 alphabetically arranged. Six hundred and seventy-six volumes have been bound. The 

 work connected with the purchase <>f books, especially of examining the books offered for 

 sale, of collating those bought and of cataloguing them, has been done by one of the assist- 

 ants and an attendant, but it is evident that, before long, special assistance will be requli'ed 

 for this duty, as the assistant hitherto employed on it cannot possibly continue to perform 

 it without neglecting his regular work on the collections. 



VII. — Acquisitions. 



Dui'ing the last year 19,902 specimens have been added to the several branches of the 

 Department : — 



Vertebrata - - - - 

 MoUusca _ _ - _ 

 Annulosa - - - _ 



Vermes, Radiata and Protozoa 



Total - - 



5,205 









1,842 







9,038 







3,817 



compar 





19,902, as 



ed with 



49,602 in 



the year 



1881. 



24,283 



}■> 



1880. 



45,881 







1879. 



20,960 







1878. 



24,184 







1877. 



24,685 







1876. 



25,340 







1875. 



30,699 







1874. 



10,644 







1873. 



The most ImjDortant acquisitions were the following : — 



1. The collections made by Dr. Copplnger during the i^rogress of the survey of 

 H.M.S. " Alert " on the coasts of Australia, and in the western parts of the Indian Ocean, 

 especially in the little explored islands of the Amirante and Glorioso groups. 



The contents of these important collections, the examination of which occupied a part 

 of the staff of the Department for the greater portion of the year, and which will be treated • 

 in a separate report to be published this year, will be subsequently enumerated under 

 the several classes of animals. 



2. From the " Challenger " collections have been received : — 

 (a.) Twenty-four Mammals in spirits. 



(J).) One hundred and ninety-four Reptiles. 



(c.) Fifty Batrachians. 



{d.) The set of types of Ophiuridce, 1,000 in number, referable to 251 si^ecies, of which 

 167 were discovered during this voyage. 



3. One hundred and thirty-three Deep-sea Sponges, constituting the collection made 

 during the cruise of H.M.S. " Porcupine " in the North Atlantic (1869-70). They were 

 described by H. J. Carter, Esq., F.R.S., and transferred to the National Collection by the 

 executors of the late Professor Sir W. Thomson. The majority of the collections made 

 during that cruise are still in the hands of private persons, to whom they were given for 

 examination. 



4. A selection from the collection made by the Rev. VV. Deans Cowan in Madagascar. 

 This is the most extensive collection that has ever reached England Irom that country. 

 The most important items will be mentioned under the several classes. 



5. The second half of the collection of North American Lepidoptera Heterocera 

 formed by Mr. A. R. Grote ; and more fully referred to in the Report for 1881 (p. 38). 



o.Q"^. E 4 6. A collection 



