INTRODUCTION. 
xvii 
Matlockite. The great development of the collection since the 
institution of the Mineralogical, as distinct from the Geological, 
Department in 1857 has been effected by the acquisition of certain 
important collections and by purchases of individual specimens, as 
far as possible directly from the districts in which the minerals 
were raised. Of the acquisitions since 1857, the most important 
is the Allan-Greg collection, first formed by Mr. Allan, of Edin- 
burgh, and added to by its subsequent owner, Mr. Robert Greg, 
and purchased in 1859. It added many species previously wanting, 
and was especially valuable for the authenticity of the localities 
assigned to the minerals in it: in which respect the Museum 
collection had fallen much in arrear. It also gave a new starting 
point for the collection of Meteorites by the addition of a carefully 
formed series of these bodies. The Meteorites, now representing 
iido distinct falls, form the most complete collection that exists. 
The mineral department received a very important addition in the 
year 1805, when the collection formed by the eminent Russian 
crystallographer and mineralogist, General von Kokscharow, was 
purchased in St. Petersburg. By this purchase a very fine series of 
Russian and Siberian minerals was added to the collection, including 
Topazes from the Urulga River and Siberian specimens of Euclase of 
the greatest rarity. Among the most remarkable donations to the 
department is a unique crystalline mass of Rubellite from Ava, 
presented by the late Col. Guthrie, and a magnificent mass of 
crystals of Proustite (light red silver ore) presented by Mr. H. Ludlam, 
in 1877. 
The oldest collections in the Botanical Department are: an Herbarium Botanical 
of John Ray, presented, with the Herbaria of .Rand and Nichols, by collections 
the Apothecaries' Company, and the Herbarium of Sir Hans Sloane, 
which contains the plants collected by him in Jamaica and figured and 
described in his Natural History of that island, the plants collected in 
Japan by Kaempfer, in Malabar and the Philippines by Camell, in 
Carolina by Oatesby, the British collection of Adam Buddie, the plants 
figured by Plukenet, &c. The general Herbarium consists of that 
of Sir Joseph Banks, which includes the plants collected in Ceylon 
by Hermann, and described by him and subsequently by Linnaeus ; 
the plants from Count Clifford's garden representing the species 
described by Linnaeus in his ''Hortus Cliffortianus ; " the plants of 
Guiana figured and described by Aublet in his work on that country; 
the plants collected in the voyages of Capt. Cook ; and authentic 
specimens from many of the botanists who lived in the end of the last 
and the beginning of the present century. These collections have been 
largely added to by the purchase or presentation of the plants of Ruiz 
and P;ivon, Gardner, Bowie and Cunningham, R. Brown, Welwitsch 
and others, and by the purchase of the general Herbaria of Shuttle- 
worth and Auerswald, the Ferns of John Smith, the Mosses of W. 
Wilson, the Hepaticae of Hampe, and numerous other collections 
from all parts of the world. The British Herbarium contains the 
plants employed by Sowerby in the preparation of his work, 
b 
