ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM 45 



done to the cabiuets last year having been much less than in the preceding years, and 

 confined to the occasional cracking across of an Insect-drawer. 



The following specimens have been mounted for exhibition: — Two stuffed Common 

 Oryx (Oryx ffazeUn), tvio Elands {Oreas caiina), a Lesser K.i\dn {Strej^sieeros tenda I), a 

 Bush-back {TragelapJius sylvatiivs), a Cyprian Wild Sheep (Ovis opliion), and a Punjab 

 Wild Sheep {Ovis cycloceros), a Red Sea Dugong {Hulicore taheruaculi). Also skeletons 

 of two Oraugs from Sumatra, two Manatees, a Tasmanian Wolf (77/_y/«cmMs f^?wce/?/i«/2<s), 

 a Platanista gangetica, a Rudolph's Rorqual, a i?a/ccn(;j;/er« from Hampshire, three Indian 

 Rhinoceros, an Australian Dugong (Halicore austialis), a Danish Mastiff. Also two 

 stuffed Reptiles, viz., a gigantic Land Tortoise (Testudo elepha7ilop2is), and a Heloderma; 

 two sharks of the genera G •ileocnrdo and Odontaspis, and a Sun Fish (Orthagoriscus 

 mola) from South Australia. 



Tiie additions to the Bird Gallery were : — A group of Steller's Sea-eagle {HalifcBus 

 pelugiciis) from Kamtchatka, and a Golden Oriole's nest with old birds. Several additions 

 have also been made to the nests of British Birds, viz. : Wood Wren, Common Wren, 

 Ring Ouzel, Shoveller, Teal, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring- 

 Gull, Common Gull, Richardson's Skua and Arctic Tern. 



The whole of tlie Mollusca added to the collection during the year have been, where 

 necessary, cleaned and mounted upon wool in glass-topped boxes ; this being the only 

 effectual method of resisting the deteri(n-ating effect of dust ; such as have been placed in 

 the exhibition cases have been mounted on the ordinary wooden tablets. 



The collection of Ophiurids, various Asterids and the re^i;iilar Echinids have been 

 remouuted; the mounting of the exnibited series of Madreporaria has been continued, 

 and the cleaning, mending, and otherwise preparing of the HyJrozoa and Polyz^a have 

 been proceeded with. 



IV. — Departmental Library. 



The library consisted, at the close of the year, of 7,433 works, I'epresented by 11,176 

 volumes. 



During the year 1885, 877 works, comprising 1,176 volumes, have been acquired. 

 The titles of all these have been transcribed on slips and entered in the Purchase- 

 book and Library Catalogue, necessitating the transcription of 2,631 entries. The 

 press-marking and arrangement of the books have been carried on as in previous vears. 

 752 volumes have been bound. The ^preparation of a Subject Catalogue has been pro- 

 ceeded with. 



V. — Catahigut's and Guide Books. 



The following Catalogues and Guides have been issued during the year 1885 : — 



1. " List of the specimens of Cetacea in the Zoological Department of the British 

 Museum " (8vo., 36 pp.), by W. H. Flower, ll.d., f.k.s. 



2. " Catalogue ol Birds," Vol. X., containing the Dic(sid<e, Hirundinidas, Ampelidcz, 

 Mniotiltida. and Mutaci/lida ('8vo., 682 pp , with 12 plates), by R. B. Sharpe. 



3. " Catalogue of Lizards," Vol. I., containing the Geckonidm, Eublepharida, Uroplatida, 

 Pygopodida, and Agamida (8vo., 428 pp., with 32 plates), by G. A. Boulenger. 



4. " Catalogue of Lizards," Vol. II , containing- the Igitanidce, Xenosauridce, Zonur'idce, 

 Anguidce, . nniellidce, Htlodermutida, Varanidcs, Xantusiida, TeiidcE, Amphishcenidoe. 

 (Svo., 492 pp., with 24 plates), by G. A. Bouienger. 



5. Guide to the Galleries of Mammalia in the Department of Zoology (8vo., 125 pp., with 

 57 woodcuts and two plans). 



6. Guide to the Gallery ©f Reptilia in the Department of Zoology (8vo., 30 pp., with 22 

 woodcuts and one plan). 



In addition to the above works, the manuscripts of the 11th and 12th volumes of the 

 " Catalogue of Birds," of the 3rd volume of the " Catalogue of Lizards," of the 6th part 

 of the •' Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoi^tera Heterocera,'' and of the Guides 

 to the Galleries of Fishes and Mollusca, are either completed and in the press or well 

 advanced towards completion. 



The following reports or descriptive papers in connection with various parts of the 

 collection, especially recent acquisitions, have been wi-itten by the departmental staff, 

 and published in scientific journals: — "Notes on the characters of the different races of 

 Eclddna" and "Account of a Collection of Human Skulls from Torres Straits," by 

 O. Thomas; the first portion of the ''Reptilia'" in Salvin and Godraan's '' Blohgia 

 Centruli- Americana,^'' by A. Giinther ; "Notes on the edible Frog in England;" 

 "Description of the German River Frog ; " " Two Lists of Reptiles and Batrachians from 

 the province Rio Grande do Sul ; " " Remarks on the Geographical distribution of the 

 LacertidcB ; " "List of Reptiles and Batrachians from the Island of Nias ; " " Description 

 of three new species of Geckos, " by G. A. Boulenger; " Report on a collection of shells 

 (chiefly laud and freshwater) from the Solomon Islands," by E. A. Smith; "On the 



u.l()2. G 4 species 



