sum of £1000., after having been visited and reported upon by Professor Owen. This collection is spoken of as follows:

"Amongst the additions to the Department of Geology, the most interesting in relation to questions as to the antiquity of man, and the cranial and dental characters of primitive races, are the partly petrified remains of the men who inhabited the Limestone caverns of the South of France, at the period when chamois, bouquetin, wild horse, reindeer, the great extinct ox, &c. existed, and especially the reindeer abounded in that part of Europe; and at a period when, the use of metals being unknown, the primitive implements were chipped flints, by means of which divers weapons, and instruments, including needles, were manufactured from the bones and antlers of the beasts captured and killed for food. On some of these bone-instruments the reindeer and horse had been delineated in outline, with much truth and spirit, and these are probably among the earliest examples of the graphic art.

"The value of this series of human remains, discovered at Bruniquel by the Vicomte de Lastic in 1863, depends upon the care and accuracy with which every material fact as to matrix,' 'position,' 'chemical condition,' &c., of the crania was ascertained, on which a conclusion as to their contemporancity with the remains of the extinct animals could be satisfactorily arrived at.

"To this end the cavern was visited by the reporter in January and February 1864, the human remains were inspected, and others were then exposed in situ, and one almost entire cranium was removed, and transferred to the British Museum, with the large mass of breccia, detached at a depth of four feet from the stalagmitic floor of the cavern, aud exhibiting with other human remains and numerous implements, conditions of imbedding, identical with those of the bones and teeth of the Cervus tarandus and Bos primigenius."

Dr. Gray, whose special report on the Zoological Department stands next on the list, tells us that no less than 7628 specimens of animals of different classes, have been added to the Museum during the year 1864, each of which has been duly registered, and either arranged for exhibition, or stowed away, so that it may be referred to if required.

The following Catalogues of parts of the Zoological series have been published during the year:-

Catalogue of the Coleopterous Insects of the Canaries, by T. V. Wollaston, F.L.S.

Catalogue of Lepidoptera, Heterocera. Parts 29 and 30, by Francis Walker, F.L.S.

Catalogue of Fishes, Vol. V., by Dr. Günther.

Whilst on the subject of these very acceptable additions to the well-known series of Catalogues of our National Zoological collection, which have rendered such assistance to the students of Nature all over the world, we cannot avoid alluding to the great difficulty which is constantly met with by persons abroad, and even in this country, in obtaining these publications through the ordinary channels of trade. Several persons have assured us, that after again and again ordering them through their booksellers, they have failed in obtaining them. These complaints might be very easily remedied by constituting some London bookselling firm agents and publishers for the Trustees of the British Museum, and putting their names on the title pages. This is the method pursued by all the leading Scientific Societies of London, and the Trustees would do well to adopt it. The difficulties and delays to be encountered in obtaining the Catalogues in the only way now possible, from the Secretary's Office in the British Museum, are such as to be very likely to deter any enterprising book-vendor who may make the trial from repeating the experiment. The sale of all the Museum publications during the past year, appears to have produced only the small sum of £154. 18 2d. If proper measures were taken to advertise* them, and a bookselling agent were appointed, we have no doubt that a much larger return might be realized.

From Dr. Gray's list of special acquisitions in the classes of Mammals and Birds during the year 1864, we pick out the following items as of general interest.

(1.) A male, a female, with rudimentary pouch, and a very young Echidna in spirits, presented by Dr. Müller of Melbourne. (These, we believe, have been described by Professor Owen, in a memoir recently read before the Royal Society, which will be published in the Philosophical Transactions.)

(2.) A "mummy" specimen of the Great Auk (Alca impennis) which was found pressed flat with the flesh converted into adipocine, on an island to the northward of Newfoundland, several feet below

*It is certainly a great error not to advertise the new Catalogues. A gentleman especially interested in British Ornithology informs us, that he has only within these few days, and then, by a mere accident, discovered that a "Catalogue of British Birds" had been issued in 1862!

the surface, in a deposit of "frozen guano." With the exception of the extremities of the toes, this example is perfect in every respect, even to the pen feathers of the wing; the beak is as perfect as the day the bird died. It was sent to Mr. Matthew Jones, and presented to the Museum by the Bishop of Newfoundland, who also procured the specimen that was previously sent to Mr. Alfred Newton, the skeleton of which has been described in the "Transactions of the Zoological Society."

The collection of Reptiles and Fishes in spirits, now under the care of Dr. Günther, to whose energetic labours in these classes of animals, we have on several occasions called our readers' attention, seems to have received many valuable additions during the year 1864. The additions to the first of these class are 847 in number, amongst which are many rare and valuable specimens from Borneo, Angola, Palestine, India, and Australia. The Fishes have been increased by the receipt of no less than 1706 examples, amongst which particular attention is called to a "large collection from the Essequibo river," in Guiana, a series of fishes from the Bosphorus, made by Dr. Millingen of Constantinople, a collection of fishes from Zanzibar presented by Lieut.-Colonel Playfair, and the "typical specimens of some new genera of deep-sea fishes from Madeira, discovered and presented by J. Y. Johnson, Esq."

As regards the Invertebrate classes, there does not appear to have been quite so much activity during the past year, and we shall perhaps understand the reason of this when we come to Philocosmos' letter on this subject by and bye.

Mr. Waterhouse's special report on the work in the "Department of Geology" during the past year, tells us that 4651 individual specimens have been "submitted to examination, labelled and entered in the inventory" during that period. Besides the collection of remains from Bruniquel, already spoken of, Mr. Waterhouse gives a list of numerous specialties, amongst which we may note "a nearly perfect skull, with the tusks about nine feet long, of Elephas primigenius, from Ilford, in Essex"-a "fine series of Marsupial remains, including a portion of the upper jaw, entire pelvis, tibia, and other bones of Diprotodon australis, from Queensland, and some very rare and valuable reptilian remains, (including a probably unique specimen of Teratosaurus Suevicus, from the Upper Keuper Sandstone of Stuttgardt."

The special Reports on the Departments of Botany and Mineralogy

we will not now enter upon, as the present article is intended to treat only of the Zoological collections of different parts of the world.

We must now say a few words about the letter to the Trustees of the British Museum from "Philocosmos," of which the title stands second in our list given above. Philocosmos addresses the fifty lords and gentlemen who form the governing body of this National Institution, thus publicly, in order to bring under their notice a section of the collections, which, "as generally admitted, 'urgently demands amendment." "The defect," he alleges, "may be "stated in a few words." It consists of " an almost entire absence in "the British Museum of those aids to the study of this vast portion "of zoology, to which naturalists think themselves entitled, and "which is certainly provided in every other important national "collection in Europe.* In other national collections," continues

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*We believe the following to be a correct list of the scientific staff of the Zoological Museums of London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Copenhagen :(1.) Zoological Department, British Museum, London:

Dr. J. E. Gray, Keeper.

Mr. G. R. Gray

Dr. Baird

Mr. F. Smith

Dr. Günther

Assistants.

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Philocosmos, "the many objects composing them are so classified, "named, and arranged, that the student can profitably examine "them," and there is likewise, "a staff of officers eminent in science, ready and able to assist students in their researches." In the British Museum, as regards the Invertebrate collections, Philocosmos urges that this is not the case. As to the amount of materials, he allows that "thanks to the untiring and well-directed "zeal of Dr. Gray," our National Collection far exceeds any other, but as to the arrangement of these materials he pronounces it to be the most "chaotic." 'If we except a few chosen groups of insects "which have received special attention, this priceless material is "stored away unstudied, unarranged, unknown; drawer after drawer, full of rare forms-forms that in private collections some"times are entirely unrepresented-exhibit nothing but a crude disorganization. Here is material sufficient to form two, three, or "four really good national collections, and yet, by reason of its condition, without the scientific value of many a second-class "private collection."

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The reason of this distressing state of things is simply that there are not enough hands to work on the very extensive series of Invertebrata in the British Museum. Our continental friends will indeed be astonished when they learn that the duty of cataloguing, arranging, naming, and describing the whole of these enormous collections, containing in round numbers about a million and a half of specimens, is now committed to two naturalists, Dr. Baird and Mr. F. Smith. A few years ago, it is true, these gentlemen were assisted by a third Naturalist, Mr. Adam White, a well-known authority in the classes Insecta and Crustacea. Since that gentleman's retirement from ill health, no competent person has been appointed to succeed him,† so that there are now only two left to do

Philocosmos gives us the following estimate of the extent of these collections"The collections of Insects in the Museum consist of 904,605 specimens, contained in 3775 cabinet drawers and 121 store boxes. The late Rev. W. Hope, a distinguished naturalist, and the founder of the Hope Museum and the Entomological Professorship at Oxford, used to say that, in superintending his own collections, he was able to take charge of a cabinet drawer a day; if this rate of progress is applied to the British Museum collection, twelve years must expire before the whole can be brought under the care of Mr. Smith. It is probable that the rest of the Invertebrata (under the charge of Dr. Baird) may consist of half a million of examples, the grand total of the Invertebrata in the Muscum being, in round numbers, a million and a half."

We have no space here to go again into the history of the appointment of Mr. White's successor, which has been so repeatedly canvassed by the ordinary press