ACCOUNTS^ &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 47 



The most important acquisitions were the following : — 



1. Collected during the voyage of H. M.S. " Challenger," and presented by the Lords 

 Commissioners of the Treasury : — 



(a.) A large collection of Cirripcdia, comprising 300 specimens, many of them new 

 to science. 



(5.) A collection of Ceratose Sponges, numbering 53 specimens, and 20 new species. 



(c.) A representative series of Foraminifera, numbering 874 slides. 



(il.) Four hundred and twenty-six named specimens of Polychceta, 37 G ephyrea. 



(e.) Thirty-nine Stalked Crinoids. 



2. The '•■ Hume " collection of birds of the British Asian Empire, consisting of 

 63,000 birdskins, 18,500 ecjgs and 500 nests, besides 371 skins of Mammalia. 



This collection has been presented by Allan O. Hume, Esq., c. B., and is, without com- 

 parison, the most extensive, complete, and important that has ever been formed of the birds 

 of the Indian region. The aim of the donor was to obtain specimens from, and to acquire a 

 perfect knowledge of, the Avi-Fauna of every part of British Asia. For this purpose he 

 organised a system under which numerous local observers and collectors worked for and 

 with him. He fitted out expeditions, with a staff of collectors and taxidermists, into Scinde, 

 Coorg, Manipur, the Malayan Peninsula, Tenasserim, and the Andaman and Nicobar 

 Islands ; he also acquired, either by purchase or presentation, collections formed by other 

 well-known Indian Ornithologists, as the Mandelli collection from Sikim and Tiber 

 Brooks' North Western and Central Indian birds, Adam's Lambhur birds, Bingham's collec- 

 tions from Delhi and Tenasserim, and Scully's collection from Turkestan. 



The value of this collection, therefore, should not be measured merely by the number 

 of specimens which it contains, but by the judgment which determined their selection, 

 the history attached to many of them, and the completeness of the several series. As- 

 suming that the collection contains 2,000 species, each would be represented on an ave- 

 rage by about 30 specimens, and that number is, in the majority of cases, necessary to 

 illustrate the geographical distribution or variation of the species according to age, season, 

 or locality. 



3. A series of 5,331 specimens of American birds; jiresented by F. D. Godman, Esq., 

 F.K.S., and 0. Salviu, Esq., r.R.s. 



This is the first instalment of a donation which, when completed, will, with regard to its 

 scientific value, be perhaps not surpassed even by the donation reported above. The 

 donors have been engaged in the formation of a colleciion of the birds of Tropical America 

 for many years, and are at present describing its contents in their magnificent work en- 

 titled " Biologia Centrali- Americana." In order to render their collection, as soon as 

 possible, available for general study, and more especially for the purpose of the "Catalogue 

 of Birds" Avhich the Trustees are publishing at present, they have ofi^'ered to transfer to 

 the British Museum such ^^arts as have been completed in their work. All the specimens 

 are in the most perfect condition and accurately labelled, so that their incorporation into 

 the general collection entails no more work than the mechanical labour of placing tliem 

 into the cabinets'. 



4. A further instalment of the " Sclater " collection of American birds, containing the 

 families Tanagiidce, Icterida, and FringilHdcs, comprising 2,281 specimens, of which 102 

 are types. 



5. Four thousand six hundred and eighty-seven specimens of shells dredged during the 

 expeditions of H.M. Ships " Lightning," " Porcupine," " Knight Errant," and " Shear- 

 water." This collection consists of a set selected and put aside for the Museum by the 

 late Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, f.e.s., who published detailed accounts of the Mollusca obtained 

 by those expeditions. After his death they were handed over to the Museum by his exe- 

 cutors. The collection contains a large number of types, and illustrates the deep-sea 

 Molluscan fauna of the North Atlantic, which was entirely unrepresented in the Museum 

 collection. 



6. A collection of 17 Mammals, 75 Birds, including 11 new to the Museum, and the 

 types of four new species, a new variety of River Crab ( Thelpliusa depressa), a Scorpion, 

 180 Coleoptera, 12 Hymenoptera, 33 Lepidoptera, and 57 other insects of various orders 

 (including the types of several new species), made by Mr. H. H. Johnston on Kilimanjaro, 

 and presented by the Committee of the British Association. 



7. A collection of 7,851 Geodephagous Coleoptera from Central America, being the 

 materials for the first volume of the Coleoptera of the " Biologia Centrali- Americana " ; 

 presented by F. D. Godman, Esq., f.k.s., and O. Salvin, Esq., f.r.s. 



This instalment of the entomological collections of Messrs. Godman and Salvin has 

 been given by the liberal donors under the same circumstances as the collection of birds 

 mentioned above. With regard to completeness, beauty of specimens, and scientific value, 

 this series is not inferior to the other. It comprises 969 species, of which more than 

 400 are types of new species described in the volume. 



0.102. H 8. Five 



