DEPARTMENTAL COINIMITTEE ON BOTANICAL WORK: 



Mr. G. B. M. 

 Murray, 



F.R.S. 



1 Nov. 1900. 



(2) Assistance given to students, i.e., 



educational use. 



(3) Assistance to research, given 



either to home or foreign in- 

 vestigators. 



(4) Government requisitions. 



special attention being given to the third 

 and fourth sub-headings. 



VIII. The main respects in which your collections 

 diifer from similar collections at Kew. 



IX. The circumstances which determine whether a 



particular collection is placed under your 

 charge, or goes to Kew. 



X. The annual cost of maintaining the collections, 



distinguishing — 



(a) Administration, as salaries and wages. 



(b) Purchases, of (1) Dried plants and (2) 



Books and Binding. 



(c) Special expenditure not falling under 



either of the preceding categories. 



XI. Whether specimens are lent to monographers; 



if so, on what conditions. 



XII. Information is also desired on the following 



special points : — 



1 When specimens, such as bulky fruits, 

 or woods, cannot be incorporated with 

 the dried plants, how and where are 

 they preserved? 



2. Whether the specimens are poisoned, or 



if some other preservative such as cam- 

 phor is employed to guard against insect 

 damage. 



3. If the specimens are glued down and laid 



in at stated intervals? 

 4 Whether any accumulation of unmounted 

 plants takes place, and if so, are_ such 

 unmounted collections readily available 

 for botanic use, and, further, what is 

 the amount of such accumulation? 



5. Are there any fossil plants ander your 



charge? If so, what system is adopted 

 in their arrangement? 



6. ^^Tiat arrangement is followed with re- 



gard to recent plants ? Under genera 

 what is the system pursued, either of 

 following some recognised authority, or 

 ■a geographic arrangement? If the 

 latter, state if many redundances arise 

 in consequence of widely - distributed 

 plants occurring in several geographic 

 divisions ? 



7. Have the cabinets fixed shelves, or mov- 



able trays? 



8. What is the size of the sheets on which 



the plants are glued? Is a special size 

 used for such specimens as palms ? 



9. Have you any subsidiary collections be- 



sides the general collection? If so, 

 what is their character, and the reason 

 they are kept separate ? 

 iO. Can specimens be examined by boiling, 

 or other laboratory methods? 



11. Are the collections housed in a fire-proof 



building ? 



12. Have you sufficient space for your collec- 



tions, or is it likely to become inade- 

 quate within the next few years ? 



13. What space is available for extension in 



connection with existing buildings or 

 galleries ? 



14. How far is the collection of prints and 



drawings available for jjublic use, with 

 a view of determining plants, and thus 

 diminishing the risk of damage by con- 

 sulting herbarium specimens ? 



15. What publications are issued officially, 



by:- 



(a) The officers of the herbarium. 



(b) Specialists not themselves officers, 



but acting under authorisation, 



and if the cost of such publications is 



wholly borne by the Government, or 



is partially defrayed out of some other 



source of income ? 



16. What is the extent of the library in con- 



nection with the herbarium ? Is it com- 

 plete in itself, or dependent on some 

 other collection of general works ? 



17. Is there a printed catalogue of your 



library ? 



18. What means are employed to secure 



the most important new publications, 

 journals, and transactions ? 



Eeplies. 



British Museum, Natural History. 



I. The collection consists of 



(a^. A General Herbarium composed as follows : 



Flowering plants - 975,000 specimens 



Cryptogams - - 51.3,000 specimens 



in all, therefore, about one million and a-half. 



(a-). A British Herbarium composed as follows : 



Flowering plants - 50,000 specimens 

 Cryptogams - - 135,000 specimens 



(a^) The Sloane and other pre-Linnean Herbaria, 

 numbering about 90,000 specimens. 



(b'). Fruits in boxes, 11,650 specimens in the 

 general collection ; 12,523 in the Sloane 

 Herbarium ; 12,220 wood specimens. 



(b-). 1,900 specimens in preservative fluids. 



(b^). 52,000 microscope slides. 



1,853,293 grand total. 



II. The duties of the Keeper of the Department of 

 Botany are the general supervision of the work of the 

 whole staff, for vrhich he is responsible to the Trustees. 

 He makes a monthly report to the Trustees on the work 

 completed and in progress. He prepares and submits to 

 the Trustees through the Director of the Natural History 

 departments, financial reports on proposed purchases of 

 specimens and books, and he reports for sanction pro- 

 posed exchanges of specimens and donations. 



He administers the expenditure of the preparing and 

 other similar votes, and carries out all business in con- 

 nection with the preparation and publication of catalogues 

 and guide-books. 



He recommends the staflF for the annual increment of 

 their salaries and for promotion. He is, in a sense, the 

 mouthpiece of , the staff to the Trustees and his duties in all 

 these relations with the Trustees cannot under ordinary 

 circumstances be delegated to any member of the staff. 



In the case of the present Keeper, his time when not 

 employed in these duties is devoted to a section of the 

 Herbarium especially the Algae, and in this respect he 



differs in no way from that of the staff of assistants. 



The assistants, both of the first and second classes, 

 have each a section of the Herbarium in their charge, for 

 the arrangement, naming and incorporation of specimens. 

 In this a great degree of initiative is necessarily allowed 

 them, and each records his daily work and hours of 

 attendance in a diary. These diaries are read every 

 month by the Keeper, who uses them in his monthly 

 reports, and (with other records) in preparing the Annual 

 Report. 



All members of the scientific staff are required to 

 attend on visitors and students and have a considerable 

 scientific correspondence — the purely business matters 

 being attended to by the Keeper. 



III. (1). The galleries are frequently visited by parties 

 from natural history societies, schools, &c., which in 

 many cases are conducted by some member of the staff 

 who expounds and illustrates the subject of study. 



