ACCOUNTS, &;c., OF THK BRITISH MUSEUM. 



rwv'v,^/'^'''''''"''.*''-^'?' ^""^ Supplement. By A. H. Fooid. Pp. xxxi. ;W4 : ol woodcuts. 

 [With Systematic Index and Alphabetical Index of Genera and Species, including 

 Synonyms.] 8vo. 10 s. Cxi. *^ 



These publications have been distributed to Free Public Libraries and various other 

 institutions in Great Britain and Ireland ; to Indian, Colonial, and Forei-ni Libraries 

 and Museums ; and to individuals who have either rendered assistance in tne prepara- 

 tion of the catalogues, or presented specimens for the collections. 



The following Catalogues are in preparation : — 



Catalogue of Birds, Vols,, XIII., XV., XVI., XVIL, XVIII., XIX., and XX oy 

 Messrs. Sharpe, Sclater, Salvin, Hargitt, Captain Shelley, and Count Salvadori. ' " 



Catalogue of Snakes, by Mr. G. A. Boulenger. 



Illustrations of Typical Specimens of Lepidoptera Heteroce)-a, Part VI fl by Mr 

 G. F. Hampson. ' "^ 



Catalogue of British Echinodermata, by Mr. F. Jeffrey Bell. 



Catalogue of British Lichens, by the Rev. J. Crombie. 



Catalogue of Fassil Reptilia, Part IV., and Catalogue of Fossil Birds, by Mi-. 

 R. Lydekker. 



Catalogue of Fossil .Fishes, Part II., by Mr. A. Smith Woodward. 



Catalogue of Fossil Cephalopoda, iPart II., by Mr. A. H. Foord. 



Systematic List of the Edwards Collection of Eocene Mollusca, by Mi-. R. B. 

 Newton. 



Genkkal Library. 



l,71ti Volumes and parts have been added to the General and Departmental J^ibiaries 

 from "duplicates" in the Department of Printed Books at Bloomsbury. 



The additions to the General Library during the past year have been : — 



By purchase ------ ^78 volumes and 38 maps. 



By donation ------ 593 volumes. 



By transference from other Departments 439 volumes and 14 maps. 



Total - - - 1,010 volumes and 47 maps. 



The extent of this collection was, on 31st December, 19,933 volumes and 3,-541 

 maps. 



These have all been catalogued, and the title slips revised ready for the general 

 alphabetical author's catalogue, which it has been decided to prepare of all books in 

 the Museum. 



Coincidently the supervision of the work of cataloguing- the boots in the Depart- 

 mental Libraries of Geology and Mineralogy has been proceeded with. 



3,691 title-slips were revised for the Geological, and 

 2,428 for the MineralogicalDepartment. 



6,119 - - - Total. 



The work in the last named Department is practically brought up to date, whilst 

 that in the Geological is not far behind, so that it is hoped that attention may be 

 shortly directed to the other Departmental Libraries. 



W. II. Flower. 



Department of Zoology. 



The addition, in a single year, of more than ()9,000 specimens to the Zoological 

 collection, is so much in excess of its average annual increase, that it would seem to 

 be expedient to preface the present report with a few words as to the cause of so 

 large an accession, and as to the work that has been thrown by it upon the staff of 

 the Department. As will be seen from the table of accjuisitions on page .■)9, more 

 than two-thirds of those 69,000 .specimens were obtained by doniUion ; they were 

 gifts of great value, almost all the specimens being authentically named, ami many 

 of them types. 



As to the specimens acquired by purchase (21, .500), they were required for the com- 

 pletion of the Museum series ; but more than two-thirds of them offered likewise 

 the additional advantage of having been carefully determined before they reached 

 the Museum. 



In collections of this kind, which have been named by well-known and reliable 

 authorities, ihe part of the work which absorbs most time is already performed ; 

 they greatly facilitate the labour of naming other specimens, and do not entail much 

 more work on the staff of the Department than is i-ecjuired for incorporating and 

 cataloguing them. 



0.74. G 4 As 



