EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 485 



Mammalia. — A valuable series of Deer and Antelopes from the collection 

 of the late Sir Victor Brooke. 



A ves . — Fi r8 t in the list may be mentioned the Seebohm Collection, 

 bequeathed by that well-known ornithologist, comprising, in skins, some 

 16,950 specimens, and including 235 skeletons. By purchase the collec- 

 tions were also enriched by the fine series of birds, chiefly Woodpeckers, 

 brought together by the late Mr. Edward Hargitt ; the Steere Collection 

 of Birds from the Philippine Islands ; and a fine collection of Fossil Bird 

 remains from Patagonia, collected by Senor Ameghino. 



Insecta. — Messrs. Godman and Salvin, who are among the most muni- 

 ficent donors, have presented 6192 Malacoderm Coleoptera from Central 

 America; 4766 Butterflies {Vienna), all Old World species ; 1375 Butter- 

 flies (Satyrince), and 610 Sphingida, and Castniida, from Central America. 

 Mr. Godman has also presented the collection of British Hymenoptera 

 made by Mr. Peter Cameron, comprising 2600 specimens, besides numerous 

 microscopic preparations, larvae, drawings, &c. There have also been pur- 

 chased the Power Collection of British Coleoptera and Hemiptera, and the 

 collection of Oriental Hymenoptera formed by Col. C. T. Bingham. 



Specimens representing the life of the past, as well as that of the present, 

 have been largely added. Lady Prestwich has presented the entire collection 

 of Fossils brought together by her husband, the late Sir Joseph Prest- 

 wich ; Mrs. Crawford Williamson has given ninety-three microscopic slides 

 illustrative of works on the Recent Foraminifera by her husband the late 

 Prof. W. Crawford Williamson ; and Mr. G. Shrubsole has been the donor 

 of 460 specimens of Palaeozoic Polyzoa which belonged to his father, the 

 late George William Shrubsole ; while from Mrs. Pengelly have been 

 received about 400 fossils selected from the collection of her husband, the 

 late Mr. William Pengelly. 



We recently (pp. 387-8) were able to report on the flourishing con- 

 dition of both the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College and 

 the Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. We are, however, sorry 

 to see by the ' Ann. Kept. Smiths. Instit. to July, 1895,' published in 1896, 

 and just received, that the Secretary writes in a much more pessimistic 

 manner on the finances and capacity of the National Museum at Wash- 

 ington : — " The problem of even providing shelter of any kind for the vast 

 amount of material daily received from persons interested in the growth 

 and work of the Museum still remains unsolved. The Institution is placed 

 in an embarrassing position. It has been designated by law as the only 

 depository of collections offered to, or made under the auspices of, the 

 Government, and cannot, under the law, refuse to receive them. The fact 

 remains, however, that when accepted there is no suitable place in which to 



Zool. 4th Ser. vol. L t October, 1897. 2 l 



