December 



c8 9 i] 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 



9i 



jamming $fob; 



To the Subscribers and Correspondents of 

 the " Humming Bird." 



With this number, Volume I. is completed, and I 

 thank heartily all the Correspondents and Subscribers 

 to Vol. I. of the Humming Bird, who have patronized 

 this review and have contributed to its succès. 



I have done my best to make Vol. I. interesting to 

 all, but I am not quite satisfied yet, and I hope that 

 Vol. II. will surpass it in interest, and I shall not cease 

 in my efforts until I make this review indispensable 

 to all who are interested in Scientific, Artistic 

 and Industrial matters. 



Besides Original notices on Art, Science and 

 Industry, Vol. II. will contain the beginning of my 

 Genera of Birds, on which I am working since 

 1876, and for which I have assembled extensive col- 

 lections of Bird skins from all parts of the world 

 during the last thirty years. 



In Vol. II. of the Humming Bird, I will begin the 

 Genera of Birds with the complete Genera of the 

 Humming-Birds. 



It will contain a full description of all the generical 

 types and a condensed description of all the species 

 known of each genus, so as to make it quite complete 

 and easy for all to determine the species of that most 

 beautiful and interesting Order of birds. Successively 

 I will continue with the other Orders and Families of 

 birds, one at a time, so that each series will always be 

 complete by itself. 



I will not follow any special classification ; because 

 my actual opinion is that we cannot boast yet of a 

 satisfactory classification acceptable to all the modern 

 Ornithologists. Perhaps later on, we may arrive to 

 that ; but for the present there are as many Classifi- 

 cations as there are Authors, each of them con- 

 taining exceptional good things ; but not yet quite 

 satisfactory to all. 



I conclude, wishing a merry Christmas, a happy 

 New Year, Health and Prosperity to ALL. 



A. Boucard. 



Books Received. 



The Antigua Observer ; the Kansas City Scientist ; 

 the Canadian Entomologist ; Sporting Goods Review ; 

 the Ibis Vol. III. No. 4 ; A Handbook of the 

 Destructive Insects of Victoria, with notes on the 

 Methods to be adopted to check and extirpate them, 

 by C. French, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., Government 

 Entomologist. A full report of this interesting 

 volume will be given in successive numbers. 



A Visit to the British Museum. 

 Natural History Department. 



Continued from page 89. 



PLANTS. 



This group occupies the whole Eastern side of 

 Gallery No. 10. 



The Miocene flora, of Greenland, is well represented 

 by many fine specimens collected by Mr. Edward 

 Whymper, and described by the late Professor 

 O. Heer. 



A fine series of Ferns, Conifers and Cycads from 

 the Wealden of Hastings has lately been acquired 

 from the collector, Mr. P. Rufford. 



Two fine trunks of coniferous trees, Cedroxylon, 

 are placed in the centre of the Gallery. 



The series of Zamia Williatnsonia from the Scar- 

 borough Oolites is altogether unique. 



The Triassic series is well represented by some 

 large slabs from India containing well preserved 

 leaves of Ferns, the chief of which is known as Glos- 

 sopteris. The collection has numerous specimens of 

 this fern from South Africa and Australia. 



In Gallery No. 1 1 have been arranged in seventeen 

 cases, a series of nine collections of historical and 

 palaeontogical interest, bearing upon the early history 

 of the British Museum and the study of Geology and 

 Palaeontology in England. 



It begins with Sir Hans Sloane Collection acquired 

 by purchase for the Nation in 1753. 



The next is the Brander Collection, 1766. 



The next series to which attention is directed is 

 the Collection of William Smith, L.L.D. This was 

 commenced about the year 1787 and purchased by 

 the Trustees in 18 16. 



We come next to a collection, the very name of 

 which betrays the antiquity of its origin. It is known 

 as Sowerby's Mineral Conchology. It was purchased 

 by the Trustees in 1861. 



Another curious but small series represents the 

 types or figured specimens of Konig's Icônes Fossilium 

 Sectiles, prepared by Mr. Charles Konig, the first 

 keeper of the Mineral and Geological Department. 



A far more important collection is that known as 

 the Gilbertson's Collection. It was purchased for the 

 British Museum in 1841. 



Next comes the Searles Wood Crag Collection, 

 presented by Mr. S. V. Wood to the British Museum 

 in January, 1856, and a supplementary collection was 

 given by Mrs. Searles V. Wood in 1885. 



The next Palaeontographical Collection is of nearly 

 equal antiquity and fully of equal merit. It is the 

 Eocene Molluscan Collection formed by the late 

 Frederik E. Edwards, Esq., about the year 1835, 

 and was continually being added to until a few years 

 before his death, which happened in 1875. It was 

 acquired by the Nation, by purchase in 1873. 



The last collection is that of a Naturalist who 

 devoted his entire life to the study and illustration of 

 a single class of organisms, namely the Brachiopoda. 



