242 Report on the Museum of the Asiatic Society. [March, 



durable kind. We shall be happy to act as Trustees for a i Museum 

 Fund,' should our suggestions meet the approbation of those who under- 

 stand and appreciate the object in view. — Eds.] 



In reporting upon the present state of the collection of the Asiatic Society, we have 

 felt much disinclination, fearing lest by so doing we might be considered as attacking 

 the proceedings of our predecessors ; we however consider it our duty, from the place 

 we now hold, and the more so as we leave this in a few days for the Upper Provinces, 

 trusting that when the statement has been laid before the Society, active measures 

 will be taken to improve its condition. 



We shall first notice the Minerals and Rocks. In these two departments the 

 collection is exceedingly rich as far as numbers are concerned. Of the former there are 

 upwards of two thousand specimens, and of the latter probably upwards of four thousand ; 

 but the miserable condition in which they have been kept — packed in drawers one 

 above another, without paper, or any other material intervening — has rendered many 

 of them entirely useless and unfit to be placed in the collection. In particular we 

 would mention the Zeolites, many of which originally must have been magnificent. 

 The Apophyllites (a species of zeolite) are very fine, and still valuable specimens, 

 and had they not been so much destroyed, the Society might have claimed the merit of 

 possessing, of this particular variety, the finest specimen, probably, in the world. 

 Most of the other specimens have been equally neglected, and many of value destroyed. 

 In regard to labels, there were but few attached, and of these many wrong. The Rocks, 

 of which there is a most magnificent and extensive collection, would have been doubly 

 valuable if they had been furnished with labels, indicating the locality from whence they 

 had been obtained ; at present after a collection containing every variety has been laid 

 aside for the Society's own Museum, the others, when named, will form valuable 

 duplicates for exchanging. To this department of the Society's Museum no at- 

 tention whatever has been paid, although probably the most important. Lying beneath 

 one of the tables in the Museum there was a large collection, said to be sent by 

 Dr. Heifer, but as not one of the specimens was labelled, that is intimating where 

 found, we have not been able to make use of them. In fact such a collection is quite 

 useless to a Society ; and even if some important mineral should be found in it, the 

 value of the discovery could not be followed up. It would be of importance to intimate 

 this to individuals engaged in making such collections. 



Mammalia.— The collection of quadrupeds consists of about seventy specimens, 

 many of which are exceedingly good, and a few very rare, among which we would 

 characterise the Hylobates albimanus, Hylobates hooloch, Ailurus refugens, Icticles 

 albifrons ; but in this department the collection of the Society is very deficient, not 

 containing above a fifth of the quadrupeds found in India. Moreover many specimens, 

 from their bad condition, would require to be replaced as soon as possible. 



Birds. — The number of birds prepared amount to upwards of six hundred specimens, 

 and in addition to these there is a considerable collection in boxes, many specimens of 

 which are not as yet in the Museum. Among the birds, there are some exceedingly 

 rare and valuable specimens, and several new to science, which we shall now notice 

 briefly. 1. Larus kroicocephalus. The discovery of this species is probably one 

 of the most interesting which has hcen made in ornithology for some time. In size it is 

 equal to the Larus marinus of Europe, and possesses in the head and neck colours 



