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11

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Captain James Cook, presented by Mr. J. D. Enys, has been placed under his portrait. In order to prevent any chance of the pictures being damaged by too strong a light, yellow blinds have been fitted to the skylights along the northern side. Mr. J. Ollivier has presented to the museum a set of ninety-four photographs of the early settlers in Canterbury. When they are named it is intended to hang them in the corridor. The committee has decided to give all possible facilities for copying pictures or other objects in the museum. Three easels have been placed in the gallery, and a book is kept in which all persons who have obtained permission to draw in the museum must enter their names. Four ladies have availed themselves of this privilege during the last four months. Antiquity Boom. —The ethnographical collection has been moved from this room so as to give more space to the Egyptian and pre-historic collections. The remainder of the Arundel Society's pictures have been framed, and the whole collection has been re-hung on hooks, as it was found that when hung with cord they were constantly getting disarranged. The Egyptian collection has been considerably enlarged, the principal additions being two female mummies in sarcophagi, belonging respectively to the eighteenth dynasty and the Ptolemaic period, and a cast of the Eosetta stone. The mummies were presented by Mr. John Tinline, who has also made another notable addition to our collections by presenting some Assyrian tablets and cylinders. Of Greek and Eoman antiquities the only additions are a case of facsimile reproductions of coins, showing the advance and decline in that art from B.C. 700 to B.C. 1, and a collection of copies of the Tanagra terra-cottas, both being purchased by Sir J. yon Haast. The pre-historic stone implements have been rearranged, and the European collection divided into Palaeolithic and Neolithic. An interesting collection of North American antiquities has been received in exchange from the Smithsonian Institution. It includes some of the stone pestles and mortars from the Pliocene gold drifts of California, which are supposed to be the oldest known human remains. Ethnological Room. —To make room for the large collections obtained in Europe by Sir J. yon Haast, and for the Indian collection presented by Mr. G. Gould, this room had to be entirely rearranged. The whole of the technological collection (with the exception of the metallic ores) has been placed in a separate room, formerly the fossil room, and the ethnographical collection has been brought down from the antiquity room and worked in with the new collections. The whole are now arranged geographically, Europe being in the centre of the hall, and Australia, Melanesia, Fiji, Polynesia, Malay Archipelago, China, Japan, India, America, and Africa round the walls. The whole collection has been labelled throughout, and maps, both ancient and modern, have been hung between the cases. Two new desk-cases have been made for this room, and a wall-case has been brought down from the antiquity room. The busts, which were formerly on the tops of the cases, have been placed in the corridor. The principal additions are : A magnificent collection of Indian art in all branches, presented by Mr. G. Gould; art pottery from Germany and Austria, old Venetian glass, and an African collection, purchased by Sir J. yon Haast; a collection from the Malay Archipelago, obtained in exchange from the Leyden Ethnographical Museum; and a Brazilian collection from the National Museum at Rio de Janeiro ; both of which exchanges were arranged by Sir J. yon Haast. A number of maps, including a copy of the Mappa Mundi, circa a.d. 1300, in Hereford Cathedral, and a copy of the second Borgian map of the world, by Diego Eibero, of Seville, a.d. 1529, in the Museum of the Propaganda at Some, have been purchased by the committee and hung in this room. Other maps have been deposited by the Philosophical Institute. Foreign Natural History Boom. —The box-cases round the geological gallery have been removed and placed in a similar position in this room; and the collection of foreign reptiles, fishes, corals, and sponges placed in them. The foreign Crustacea have been placed in the desk-cases round the gallery with the Echinodermata and the Mollusca. The shells have been rearranged and are now being mounted, but the Crustacea and Echinodermata still require mounting and labelling. The whole of the birds and mammals have been carefully examined by the taxidermist, and I have every reason to hope that the cases are now clear of insects. The unmounted skins have been placed in drawers below the bird-cases. The new exhibits during the year are a sloth-bear, a white-thighed colobus monkey, a cuscus, a superb bird-of-paradise, a twelve-thread bird-of-paradise, and a skin of a very large boa-constrictor. Skeleton Boom. —The only alteration here is a rearrangement caused by the removal of Mr. Potts's collection of British birds-eggs and the skeletons of Now Zealand birds. The collection of human crania has been numbered, a number being painted upon each skull, and the same written on the ticket. Neio Zealand Boom. —The New Zealand natural-history specimens have been collected from other parts of the museum and placed in the old moa room. The ouly exceptions are the seals in the mammal room and some stuffed fishes and skeletons still left in the skeleton room. The birds have been carefully examined by the taxidermist, and all signs of moth eradicated. The collections of reptiles and shells have been renamed. The Maori mats have been taken down from the walls of the Maori house and placed in glass-cases. A special case has been made for the Maori objects, which were part of Captain Cook's collection, and which were obtained in exchange from the British Museum by Sir J. yon Haast. The chief additions during the year are : A small collection of moa feathers, purchased in London by Sir J. yon Haast; a blue shark, presented by Mr. Catchpole ; and the skeleton of a large fish, allied to the tunny, but belonging to a new genus at present unnamed, which was caught at Governor's Bay, and presented to the museum by Mr. T. H. Potts. Geological Gallery. —The natural-history and botanical collections have been removed from this gallery, and the fossils have been brought into it from the old fossil room. The collection of foreign minerals is placed in the desk-cases on the north and east sides, the foreign rocks in the desk-cases on the west side, and a collection illustrating phenomenal geology on the south side. The foreign fossils are arranged stratigraphically in the wall-cases on the east side. The New Zealand minerals are in desk-cases along the north side, and the New Zealand rocks and fossils in the wall-cases along the west side. Special collections are shown of meteorites, pseudomorphs, diamond rocks of South Africa, and of ejectamenta from Botomahana and Mount Tarawera. The

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