10 



also througli that door and passage that admit- 

 tance is gained to the studies of the Keeper of 

 that department, and of his first assistant/ who 

 are thus removed to the greatest possible distance 

 from the main body of the collection under their 

 care. Placing a gallery all round the upper 

 part of the Ornithological Room ^ will, in the 

 opinion of the Officers of that department, 

 give them space for seven years at the very 

 utmost. But it may be assumed that that 

 gallery will not be completed in less than 

 three years from this time ; and as the advan- 

 tage to be derived from such a gallery will 

 apply only to small objects, the Osteological 

 Collection *^ must continue in the basement. 

 Even now the Collection of Mammalia is greatly 

 deficient, because there is no room to place the 

 specimens which it w^ould be desirable to add to 

 it. Many such specimens w^ould have been ac- 

 cepted as presents, but have been declined for 

 this reason. For objects of this class the in- 

 tended gallery will afford no relief. The opinion 

 of the Officers is that the Zoological Collection 

 now in the Museum, in order to be arranged 

 and displayed as it ought to be, requires twice 

 as much space as that which it occupies at pre- 

 sent ; and that such a collection, to be worthy of 

 an Institution like the British Museum, ought to 



^ Plan II., 28. Plan III., 35 to 39. 



' Plan I., 20, 



