14 



INTRODUCTION. 



Old Buildtng. 



Sup. Feet. 



Geology and Mineralogy . . . 16,560 



Botany .... . 5,004 



Total . 21,564 



New Building. 



Geology . . . 32,478 



Mineralogy . , . 13,920 



46,398 



Botany ..... 13,920 



Total . 60,318 



The three departments have also ample provision of rooms for 

 officers and students, signally deficient in the older building. 



The great hall, in which the visitor finds himself on entering 

 the Museum, has not yet its intended objects of exhibition. Jt 

 is proposed to place in the centre skeletons of whales and 

 other objects requiring extended space ; and, in carrying out 

 Professor Owen's design, to fill the surrounding bays with 

 specimens from the different collections, selected to show 

 the type-characters of the principal groups of organized 

 beings. It is the purpose of Professor Owen to make this 

 selection what he would call an " Index Museum," serving as 

 an introduction to the study of the several collections, and 

 made valuable by the addition of his own demonstrations of 

 progress in the development of created forms. 



EDWARD A. BOND. 



British Museum, January 1st, 1883. 



