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Report of Museum Committee.

Your Committee, before reporting on the general state of the Museum with reference to the appointment of a new Curator, will first point out what has been principally effected during the past year. A complete suite of all the fossils from the Crag which are in the possession of the Society, has been, for the first time, arranged by Mr. Lonsdale, and they fill ten drawers. All the fossils of the London clay, received from Mr. Stokes and others, have been worked into their proper places, as has been likewise done with those from the chalk. The fossils from the gault and upper green-sand, presented by Dr. Fitton and others, have likewise been arranged. Those of the lower green-sand have been arranged for the first time: the specimens from the green-sand of Devonshire occupy eight drawers. Those from the Portland sand and limestone occupy an equal number. Your Committee in stating what has been done during the last year, wish to observe, that the number of drawers, considerable as it is, gives no just idea of the amount of labour bestowed on the collection. Besides the great care and time required to extract some of the fossils from the rock, in all cases where possible, complete suites of the different species, from their earliest to their most advanced stages of growth, have been formed; the extreme value of which will be at once obvious to every zoologist. On the board on which the specimen is fastened, the locality, name of donor, that of species, and often references to some standard work, are inscribed.

The remainder of the public collection is much in the same state

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as during former years. Weald clay and Purbeck not arranged. Oolite and lias, specimens labeled but not arranged. The arrangement of the new red sandstone, mountain limestone, and old red sandstone, has been stopped until the publication of Mr. Murchison's work. The formations below the old red sandstone are placed in geographical order, until our knowledge of their relations be more complete. The traps and granites are grouped by themselves. The specimens from Scotland are arranged on the same principle with those from England; but the fossils are comparatively few in number. The arrangement of the Irish collection is geographical. The same principle has been followed in the whole foreign collection, with the exception of a part belonging to the best known formations of France. With respect to the foreign collection, your committee beg to observe, that two of its members having occasion during the last year to consult certain portions of it from distant quarters of the world, namely the Himalaya and the Andes, found the present arrangement the best for their purpose. At p. 461 of the Proceedings a list of the number of drawers, appropriated to specimens from different countries, is given, and therefore it is thought unnecessary here to repeat it.

In the cellars there is a considerable number of boxes containing specimens not yet arranged; and the collection of duplicates is enormous.

After these remarks it may be observed, that the first principle of arrangement in the collection has been geographical; and that, where there existed sufficient data, this has been followed up by a stratigraphical classification. In the latter case, the upper drawers contain the rocks; the next any accompanying minerals, and the lower ones the organic bodies, — beginning with those of the simplest structure, and so proceeding to the higher orders. With respect to catalogues; separate ones have been made by Mr. Lonsdale, of the fossils of some of the English formations. Your committee would suggest the advantage (when time permits) of forming an index of the fossil shells, either according to a natural system, or alphabetically, so that any person might know in which drawer a given species could be found, without having to search the catalogues of the separate formations. And likewise they would suggest, that a brief geographical catalogue of the whole collection should be made, with references to letters pasted on the different cases, so that every member might at once know what specimens were in the collection from any locality. Even the brief list given at p. 461, and before alluded to, with references to the drawers, would, in the opinion of your committee, be extremely useful, and would require very little time.

The mineralogical collection is in the same state as during the previous year. It would, perhaps, be advantageous if attention were called to this collection by a title inscribed over it, instead of over the door of the Library.

With respect to the Library your committee report, that a catalogue has been made by Mr. Humphreys of every book and of the

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numerous pamphlets in it, with a full title and reference to each. The books themselves have likewise been classed according to the subjects of which they treat, or the system of their publication. Your committee are of opinion, that the catalogue is not only highly useful to the Society, but most creditable to the industry of Mr. Humphreys, who has completed it by himself during the past year. The committee observe that much of Mr. Humphreys's time has been required in supplying books to the members, and in preparing, together with Mr. Bailey, sections for the evening's meetings. The charts were arranged during a previous year, with much care, by Mr. Lonsdale, with references to the printed catalogue. Your committee may remark, that if letters were added to the shelves and cases, a work of very little time, any one consulting the catalogue for the first time would "be able immediately to find any chart he wanted. The maps are in a less perfect state of arrangement.

The Committee beg leave to mention as the principal donations to the Museum, since the last Anniversary, the following list: —

Fossils from the Crag; presented by Mr. Brown, F. G. S.

Tooth of a Mastodon from the Crag; presented by Rev. J. Gunn.

Fossils from Grignon, and other tertiary deposits in France; presented by Mr. Stokes.

Specimens of polished Fossil Woods from Antigua; presented by Major Gen. Sir Patrick Ross.

A collection from Cutch; presented by Capt. Grant.

Collection from the Madras Presidency; presented by Mr. Malcolmson.

Specimens from Eastern Australia; presented by Major Mitchell.

Capt. Beaufort has forwarded to the Society several small collections sent to England by officers of the Royal Navy.

Specimens from the countries between Madras and the Neilgherries, and other parts of India; presented by Dr. Benza.

CHARLES LYELL.

CHARLES DARWIN.