NOTES AND QUERIES. 295 



cannot, alas ! get the mounted Mammals or Fishes under weigh 

 in the meantime. The limited funds at the disposal of the Com- 

 mittee are wholly absorbed by the expenses of mounting and 

 casing the Birds. It is therefore obvious that the Museum 

 cannot advance so fast as could be desired ; but we should be 

 most thankful to receive gifts for the series of birds or birds' 

 eggs. We have very few eggs, and I am no oologist. My 

 personal endeavour is to secure the downy or nestling dress of 

 each species, as the first link in the changes of dress. I am 

 aware that few of the readers of ' The Zoologist ' are Cumbrians ; 

 but I am not in any sense a local man myself. It is my ambition 

 to help, in a humble way, any public museum; and I have no 

 special interest in helping that of Carlisle, which has stronger 

 claims upon those who have some permanent and life-long con- 

 nection with the county. But the half-fledged Museum of the 

 little Border city already affords a vast amount of pleasure to 

 hundreds of working men, many of whom spend their evenings 

 and half-holidays in criticising the cases, and explaining to their 

 friends how they think they could be improved. We have a 

 cabinet of local Lepidoptera, which was purchased by a subscrip- 

 tion, and this is of great interest to our young but enthusiastic 

 school of field naturalists. For their sake, therefore, I venture to 

 say how thankful we should be for any additions to our series. I 

 have no immediate prospect of going abroad myself to fetch any 

 of the desiderata from distant collecting grounds ; I am therefore 

 emboldened to repeat that the friends of the Museum would be 

 grateful for any duplicate specimens which their fellow-naturalists 

 may care at any time to present to this public institution. 



NOTES AND QUERIES, 



Census Specierum Animalium Viventium. — We are indebted to 

 Mr. P. L. Sclater for the following Census, which we understand was 

 drawn up by the contributors to the ' Zoological Record ' in February 

 last : — 



Mammalia 2,500 



Aves 12,500 



Reptilia and Batrachia 4,400 



Pisces 12,000 



