PREFACE. 



vii 



together, and those purchased have been almost all procured 

 from collections received direct from their native habitats, 

 and from persons whose authority gives additional import- 

 ance to the specimens ; and a large proportion of the 

 skulls, &c. have been extracted from the skins which form 

 part of the zoological series in the Museum collection ; these 

 skulls are marked with an asterisk (.*), and the skulls and 

 specimens are marked with the same MS. number. 



To give some idea of the extent of the collection, the fol- 

 lowing table, exhibiting the number of specimens and spe- 

 cies contained in different European collections is added. 





Mammalia. 



Birds. 



Reptiles. 



Fishes. 





Speci- 

 mens. 



Spe- 

 cies. 



Speci- 

 mens. 



Spe- 

 cies. 



Speci- 

 mens. 



Spe- 

 cies. 



Speci- 

 mens. 



Spe- 

 cies. 



British Museum 



1766 



742 



961 



523 



309 



137 



59 



33 



Paris Collection 



3178 



636 



1358 



493 



572 



261 



649 



742 



Leyden Collection 



1000 





500 





200 





300 





Coll. of Surgeons 



1055 



249 



247 



158 



157 



49 



336 



82 



The number given for the College of Surgeons is taken 

 from the Catalogue published in 1831 ; of the Paris Museum 

 from the account of the collection published in the 'Nouvelles 

 Annales du Museum ' for 1833 ; and of the Leyden collec- 

 tion from notes communicated by M. Schlegel in 1836. 

 The last published estimate of each collection. 



The Museum is most imperfect as regards fishes and 

 reptiles, but it is to be hoped this will shortly be re- 

 medied. 



JOHN EDWARD GRAY. 



British Museum, 



Feb. \2th 9 1847. 



