X PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [March 1 9 13, 



Of these older collections the following may be mentioned :— the specimens 

 from the Faroe Islands described in 1821 by W. C. 1'revelyan ; a collection 

 from Normandy described in 1824 by De la Beche; the large series from 

 Auvergne collected and described by Scrope in 1827; another collection from 

 the same region collected and described by Lyell & Murchison in 1828; the 

 collections from Italian volcanic districts made by Scrope in 1823-24 ; a 

 series from Greenland collected by Giesecke ; and various collections from 

 India described in papers in the Quarterly Journal. 



It is a subject of congratulation to the Museum that old collections of rocks 

 of such historic interest should have finally found their resting place in the 

 National Collection. 



G. T. PRIOR, Keeper of Minerals. 

 L. FLETCHER, Director. 



The Director of the Museum of Practical Geology reports as 

 follows : — 



The whole of this large collection was transferred to cabinets during the 

 late summer and autumn months of 1911, and the Society's drawers were 

 subsequently delivered to the purchase's. 



Fossils. 



During the process of transference to the storage-cabinets, the specimens 

 were made as clean as possible, and were then so arranged that they became 

 readily accessible for purposes of study. Only some dozen or so of the great 

 number of fossils recorded in the Society's catalogues have not yet been 

 traced. 



Nearly a thousand tablets of specimens have been placed on exhibition in 

 the Museum in their respective stratigraphical positions, each bearing a dis- 

 tinctive label : — ' Greol. Society Coll.' Further material is being drafted into 

 ' the Museum as opportunity permits. 



In that part of the collection which was registered by Mr. C. D. Sherborn 

 and recorded in the late Prof. J. F. Blake's valuable Catalogue, the specimens 

 can always be referred to by means of their original register-numbers. All 

 these will be kept permanently. The remainder, amounting to considerably 

 more than three-quarters of the whole, is being examined critically and in 

 large part registered, a work which will necessarily occupy much time. Most 

 of the material is of high, quality, so that, it may be anticipated that a relatively 

 small proportion of it will hr t ve to be discarded and set aside for donation to 

 other institutions. During the process of sorting out and registering that 

 greater part which it is intended to keep permanently, comparison has to be 

 made with the collections already displayed or stored at Jermyn Street, in 

 order to ascertain what portions of the new collection are supplementary to 

 these, and what material can be considered to represent duplicates in the strict 

 sense. A careful watch is also being kept for any specimens, in addition to 

 those previously recognized, which may have been mentioned in publications. 

 A few have already been detected, including some that have been figurerl. The 

 fact that such specimens are not mentioned in the Catalogues of Mr. Sherborn 

 and the late J. F. Blake must not be taken to imply that the work of those 

 recorders was wanting in thoroughness or discrimination ; it has been found 

 that the manuscript catalogue and the published catalogue are both remarkable 

 for their degree of completeness and accuracy. 



While, for the above reasons, it is impossible to hasten the process whereby 

 this extensive collection is being made to take final shape, the specimens are 

 being maintained in good order, and in the meantime are available for general 

 reference. 



