250 Asiatic Society. [April, 



Many here present may recollect at that time the general bad state of the 

 Museum ; the dark and dirty condition of the cabinets ; the want of arrange- 

 ment of the specimens ; and the dampness of the apartments containing them ; 

 altogether giving a deplorable proof of neglect : end few who do recollect this, will, 

 I hope, be inclined to doubt that a great improvement has been effected. 



The first step was to divide the Museum into two distinct parts ; one 

 consisting of the works of art ; the other of the productions of nature. The 

 numerous valuable specimens of the former, being lost in the rooms below, 

 were removed into the entrance hall, stair-case, and gallery, where they now 

 are, and where they are seeu, as we all know, to the greatest advantage : and 

 their removal allowed of the apartments they occupied being entirely devoted to 

 the Natural History portion of the Museum. 



On examination, the specimens of Natural History were found, for the most 

 part, in a very neglected state. In osteology, they were numerous, and some 

 of them very valuable; but many were more or less mutilated, and the teeth of 

 the skulls lost ; while no catalogue, nor even memorandum, of the greater 

 portion could be found. The first care was to remedy this : the broken spe- 

 cimens were repaired, so far as they could be repaired ; and a catalogue was 

 made, which includes every thing concerning them, that can be gleaned from 

 the Researches, and other quarters ; whether, as to the specimens themselves, 

 or the names of the donors. In making this catalogue, some difficulty was ex- 

 perienced from the want of any notices of the specimens ; and from there being 

 no objects of comparison, by which to discover the species of an animal of 

 which we had, perhaps, but a horn, or a single bone. 



While this was going on, attention w&s also directed to the formation of a 

 cabinet of reference to compare the fossil remains, in which the museum is so 

 rich, with the living congeners, of the animals to which they belonged. This 

 is, in its very nature, a tedious and laborious work ; but already there have 

 been articulated and set up, skeletons of a monkey, weasel, cat, rat, musk-deer, 

 horse, parrot, and tortoise. The rhinoceros, which was before but badly put 

 together, has been made the most of that its condition would allow ; and an 

 elephant's skeleton ; and those of another horse and tortoise are being prepar- 

 ed. As this branch of the museum is of the greatest importance, I am anxious 

 to render it as complete as possible ; and with this view, have written to various 

 individuals, likely to further our object, who have promised the bones of the 

 camel, wild buffaloe, large deer of various kinds, the large bullock of Upper 

 India, the tapir, and the alligator ; and we may expect soon to receive them. 



The most valuable specimens in the osteological section of the museum are, 

 the skulls of the Malacca tapir; the Dugong ; the Van Diemen's Land tiger, 

 (whose dentition has been heretofore mistaken in all works of Natural History, 

 until it was corrected in a paper, published last year in the Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society, written from this very specimen;) and the jaw-bone of the 

 gigantic ape shot by Capt. Cornefoot in Sumatra ; a specimen unique, and 

 valuable as the most lasting, and most striking remains of an animal so strange, 

 that did not this exist, the whole story might be looked upon as a fable. 



The specimens of mammalia are but few in number, and their condition on 

 my taking charge was any thing but satisfactory. Some were in such a state of 

 decay as to admit of nothing being done to improve them. Such was the case 

 of the Thylacinus Cynocephalus, (Van Diemen's Land tiger,) to which 1 before 

 alluded, its skull and paws having been all that could be retained, — a circum- 

 stance, however, in the individual instance which turned out fortunate, as 

 thereby its dentition was discovered. This department of the Museum is 

 increasing, and in a few years I hope it will be worthy of the Society. 



In ornithology, although the specimens were rather numerous, their condi- 

 tion was so bad that four-fifths were thrown away. But great accessions have 

 been made during the year ; and we are promised specimens from all quarters. 

 I have myself procured in the neighbourhood of Calcutta more than 100 birds ; 

 and these, together with several valuable donations, have put the ornithological 

 department on a tolerably respectable footing ; and I am therefore proceeding 

 with the catalogue. This catalogue I propose to make something more than a 

 mere numerical one, having been favoured with the valuable notes of Mr. C. W. 

 Smith, with liberty to make extracts from them ; which, together with my owa 



