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



A selection of electrotypes of Roman large brass coins and medallions. 



A selection of English coins in electrotype, from the earliest times to the end of the 

 reign of Elizabeth, and a series of original English, Colonial, and American coins, from 

 the time of James I., to the present day. 



The number of visitors to the Medal Eoom during 1883 was 1,989. 



The number of visitors to the Gold Ornament Room durino 1883 was 22,195, 



Reginald Stuart Poole. 



Departments of Natural PIistory. 



In the course of the year 1883 an addition of 72,354 specimens has been made to tne 

 Natural History. Of these, 31,446 have been received in the Department of Zoology, 

 15,897 in that of Geolo<iy, 450 in that of Mineralogy, and 24,561 in that of Botany. 

 All these, with the rest of the specimens, are in a good state of preservation. 

 I have, also, to report the safe reception of the specimens of Natural History from the 

 Bloomsbury Building, and in reference to their location and arrangement, to submit the 

 following account : 



The lowest and earliest forms of life may now be studied in the series of specimens 

 arranged in the easternmost of the top-lit Galleries, C, in the Department of Geology ; 

 they include series of Silurian Graptolites, the Foraminifers, the Radiolarians, the 

 Sponges, the Hydrozoans, and the Anthozoal Corals. Along one side of this Gallery are 

 the evidences of organisms which have diverged, in the course of evolution, to the grade 

 of Plants. Among the fossil specimens may be seen the tropical fruits from the eocene 

 beds of the Isle of Sheppey, indicative of the climate then and there prevailing ; also of 

 petrified wood, and the opalized trunk measuring nine feet four inches in length. 



In the next wider top-lit Gallery, B., specimens show the radiate type of animals risen 

 to the form of Crinoids, or stalked Star-fishes, which flourished in the upper Silurian 

 and the earlier Mesozoic periods. These specimens are followed by the higher 

 Echinoderms, represented by Asteriads and Echinoids, of which many species are still 

 in existence. Of such kinds of primitive forms of life, specimens of existing Sponges 

 {Poiifera), and of Corals {Polypifera^ are exhibited in the narrower side, or floor, Gallery 

 of the west wing, which is entered from the Avider one devoted to the exhibited series 

 of Birds. 



Ascending to the annulose type, the earlier forms of the articulate division are showrt 

 in the Gallery, C. or No. III., of the eastern wing ; e.p., in the series of Trilobites, now 

 extinct; and in the Alerostomatous forms still represented by the /.z'wmZws, or " King 

 Crab," which preceded the Macrourous and Brachyurous Crustacea now prevailing:. 

 Evidences of the early forms of air-breathing Arthropods, the Scorpions, e.g., are here 

 also displayed. 



For the numerous and varied forms of Insects, the present building has afforded space 

 in a well-lit apartment on the basement story, to which access is given in the west wing. 



Of the MoUusca, the earlier and extinct forms may be studied in the wider top-lit 

 Galleries, B., and No. 2, of the east wing. In the latter, may be seen the rich series of 

 varied and beautiful forms of the chambered and siphonate shells, represented, now, by 

 two surviving Genera, Nuutilvs and Spirula. Specimens of these existing Cejjhalojjods 

 are exhibited in a corresponding top-lit side-Gallery in the west wing. I^ut an inade- 

 quate idea of the 4-gilled division of Cephalopods {Tetrahranchiata), would be conveyed 

 by its sole existing representative, the Pearly Nautilus ; the east wing must be re-visited 

 to study the gradations of shape from the earliest straight forms of Orthoceratiles, through 

 the stages of Hamite modifications of curvature, augmenting to the spirally disposed 

 Ammonites and Nautilites, The dwelling chamber of the Molluscous Constructor is 

 more or less mutilated in the fossils. But, for the instruction of Visitors, restorations of 

 the tyjie-m embers of extinct generic groups are given in coloured drawings, with figures 

 of the " animal," or soft parts of the Nautilus pompilius. A corresponding illustration 

 is given of the still existing Spirula showing the internal position, like that of the 

 lamellate shell of the cuttle-fish, of the sole spiral, chambered, shell, hitherto discovered 

 in the higher, dibranchiate, division of the Cephalopoda. The chambered shell of the 

 extinct group of Belemnites is here shown, under.divers modifications : it is straight, as in 

 Orthoceras, but is internal as in Spirula ; and is associated with a defensive " ink-bag," 

 exemplifying the affinity of these fossils to the existing Cuttles (Sepiada) and Squids 

 {Loliginida;). 



Specimens of existing kinds of these " naked " Cephalopods may be studied in the 

 Building, apart from the Museum, but communicating by a covered way, appropriated 

 to all the recent forms of animals preserved in alcoholic or other liquors. Here, also, 

 may be seen the female Argonautu, Avhich secretes by expansions of one of the pairs of 

 arms the light symmetrical shell in which her eggs are deposited, and which protects the 

 incubative proportion of her own body. 



With 



