subsequent acquisitions and purchases, was one of the items purchased by the nation from his executors after his death in 1753. The entire herbarium, as bequeathed by him, consists of 336 large folio volumes, bound in 262. Besides the plants collected by Sir Hans Sloane himself in Europe and the West Indies (of which latter a list was published by him so early as 1696, and a more detailed description is given in his ‘Natural History of Jamaica,' in two volumes folio, published, the first volume in 1707, and the second twenty years later), it includes the collections of the early botanists Plukenet and Petiver. The collection of Plukenet, which 'consists of a great number of small specimens crowded, without apparent order, upon the pages of a dozen large folio volumes,' is peculiarly interesting to the botanist. Minor collections included in the general Sloanian Herbarium are those of the Duchess of Beaufort, Kiggalaer, Buddle, Uvedale, Hawkins, &c.; besides which, there are important contributions from the collections of Merret, Cunningham, Hermann, Bobart, Tournefort, Scheuchza, Kamel, Vaillant, Kampfer, Catesby, Houston, Boerhaave, and other eminent botanists of the latter part of the seventeenth and the early part of the eighteenth century.

The entire number of species included in the original herbarium of Sloane has been estimated at 8000; that of varieties at 10,000. Owing, however, to the imperfect state of botanical science at the time when it was formed, its value is now chiefly historical. 'From the great increase,' says Dr Asa Gray, ' in the number of known plants, it very frequently happens that the brief descriptions, and even the figures of older writers, are found quite inadequate for the satisfactory determination of the particular species they had in view; and hence it becomes necessary to refer to the Herbaria where the original specimens are preserved.' In this respect the Sloanian Herbarium still possesses great importance. If, for example, a London botanist were unable to understand to what West Indian plant, as now known, Sir Hans Sloane meant to allude in any particular passage of his work on Jamaica, he would easily ascertain the point by going to the museum and procuring a sight of the plant itself—the actual plant, in all probability, that Sir Hans had before him when he wrote the passage.

To facilitate such a use of the Sloane Herbarium, the volumes that compose it are kept together in several table-cases in the outer of the two rooms devoted to the botanical section in the museum. In this room is also kept the very interesting collection of plants presented to the Royal Society by the Apothecaries' Company during the seventy-four years beginning 1722, and ending 1796, at the rate of fifty new plants every year. This annual pre

sent of fifty new plants to the Royal Society was the rent that the Company were required to pay for their freehold of the Botanic Garden at Chelsea-the garden having been given them on that condition by Sir Hans Sloane in 1721 when he bought his Chelsea estate. The plants, carefully tied up, each fifty between two boards, are preserved in one of the table-cases, no longer as botanical rarities, but as historical curiosities. In the same room are kept various additions that were made from time to time to the original Sloanian Herbarium by the trustees of the museum. Among these one of the latest was the collection of Baron de Moll of Munich, consisting of forty-eight portfolios, and acquired in 1815.

It was not, however, till the year 1820, when, as has been narrated in the introductory sketch of the history of the museum, the great herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks was added to the treasures of the museum, that the botanical section became worthy of the rest of the institution. This herbarium, like that of Sir Hans Sloane, was composed of many separate items, acquired at various times by its assiduous owner. In addition to the collections of Sir Joseph Banks himself, including those made by him in his capacity as naturalist to the famous expedition to the South Seas under Captain Cook in 1768–1771, were the herbaria of Cliffort, Hermann, Clayton, Aublet, Miller, and Jacquin, all eminent collectors of the last century, together with many plants that had belonged to Tournefort and other distinguished botanists. The herbarium of Cliffort possesses great claims on the attention of the botanist, as being the identical herbarium from which Linnæus compiled his celebrated early work, the 'Hortus Cliffortianus,' published in 1737. The original possessor of the herbarium was Mr George Cliffort, a wealthy banker in Holland, who, being a man of scientific tastes, and proprietor of a large garden and museum of natural history, seized the opportunity afforded him by the temporary residence in Holland of the Swedish naturalist, then a poor and young man, to place both under his charge. For two years Linnæus remained in Cliffort's house, treated, it is said, with princely munificence, and labouring assiduously in the rearrangement of his patron's museum and garden, and in the preparation, among other works, of the 'Hortus Cliffortianus,' a handsome folio, printed at Mr Cliffort's expense, and distributed among his friends. The herbarium, as classified by Linnæus, ultimately came into the possession of Sir Joseph Banks: it comprises some plants that are not to be found in the proper herbarium of Linnæus himself. Some of the other herbaria included in the general Banksian collection have also a historical interest. It was with the help of the Clayton Herbarium, for example, that

Gronovius edited his 'Flora Virginica;' and the plants that belonged to the early botanist Tournefort are all described by him in his 'Corollarium.' Aublet's collection was chiefly from French Guiana; and among the smaller collections included in the general herbarium are several others, whose interest originally depended on the circumstance that they illustrated the Flora of parts of the world that had only recently been explored.

Valuable as was the Banksian Herbarium at the date of its acquisition, it would now be far behind the state of botanical science, had not care been taken to augment it by regular additions as the science has advanced. Among these additions have been collections of plants from Africa, from the polar regions, and from other parts of the world—the results of the various expeditions fitted out since 1820 by government; as well as several valuable donations, including a number of plants sent by Loureiro from Cochin-China, a collection of Indian plants presented by the East India Company, and one of Egyptian plants presented by Sir J. G. Wilkinson. In 1835, when the entire number of vegetable species known amounted probably to between 60,000 and 70,000, the Banksian Herbarium numbered about 30,000, of which about 24,000 were arranged, and the remainder unarranged. At present, the entire number of known species being reckoned at 100,000, the number contained in the Banksian Herbarium is probably as large a proportion of this as is to be found in any existing collection, except that of Paris.

The Banksian Herbarium, being properly the true herbarium of the museum, constitutes the chief portion of the entire botanical section. The following extract from a paper in Silliman's Journal, by Dr Asa Gray, will show the manner in which it is kept :"The herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks is probably the oldest prepared in the manner commonly adopted in England, of which, therefore, it may serve as a specimen. The plants are glued fast to half-sheets of very thick and firm white paper of excellent quality, similar to that employed for merchants' ledgers, all carefully cut to the same size, which is usually 16 inches by 10%, and the name of the species is written on the lower right-hand corner; and all the species of a genus, if they be few in number, or any convenient subdivision of a larger genus, are enclosed in a whole sheet of the same quality, and labelled at the lower left-hand corner. These parcels, properly arranged, are preserved in cases or closets, with wooden folding-doors made to shut as closely as possible being laid horizontally in compartments just wide enough to receive them, and of convenient depth. In the Banksian Herbarium the shelves are also made to draw out like a case of drawers. This method is unrivalled for elegance, and

the facility with which the specimens may be found and inspected.'

In addition to the Sloanian and Banksian Herbaria, the Botanical Rooms contain various other collections of objects interesting to the botanist. Among these may be mentioned the collection of preserved seeds, fruits, &c. that formed part of the Sloane bequest; the similar collection of flowers and fruits, chiefly of rare succulent plants, preserved in spirits, that were left by Sir Joseph Banks; a suite of models of fungi, to be seen in one of the open cases of the outer room; and a series of specimens of the principal woods used, or capable of being used, in the arts. An object of some interest in one of the open cases is a specimen, believed to be at present unique in Europe, of an entire nut of the vegetable ivory tree. In short, of almost every class of vegetable objects, small enough or durable enough to be kept in the apartments of a building, there are specimens in the Botanical Rooms of the museum. Some whole trunks even of rare and curious trees are placed in corners of the outer room, where they may be handled and inspected.

Although the botanical section of the museum is chiefly useful as a collection where professed and highly-educated students of botany may find all the materials they may require in the prosecution of their researches, it is by no means without its uses as regards the public in general. Not long ago, for example, an eminent silversmith in the metropolis having received an order for a costly piece of plate, one of the ornaments of which was to consist of a finely-executed representation of the lotus-plant, sent an artist to the museum to select from among its botanical treasures a real lotus suitable for the purpose, and make a perfect model of it. Again, among the specimens of wood preserved in the museum, there are doubtless many that, if once brought into fashion by the cabinet-maker, and made generally known, would be preferred for certain purposes to some of the expensive kinds now in use. Although necessarily shut to the miscellaneous public, the botanical department of the museum is at all times accessible to persons having scientific objects in view, and on making proper application.*

* In connection with this section, see a paper by Dr Asa Gray, entitled Notices of the Principal European Herbaria, in vol. xlvi. of Silliman's American Journal; the 'Musée Botanique de M. Benjamin Delessert, par A. Lasseque-Paris, 1845'-a work containing, besides much interesting matter relating to the history of botanical science, detailed references to all the great European herbaria; and, for general information, treatises on Vegetable Physiology and Systematic Botany in Chambers's Information for the People.'

ZOOLOGICAL SECTION.

According to the system of Cuvier, now generally adopted, the animal creation is divided into four great departments or subkingdoms, arranged in the supposed order of their dignity, beginning with the lowest, and ending with the highest, as follows:-I. RADIATA, or radiated animals, so called because their structure is that of a number of rays or radii diverging from a central point or disk, in which the nervous force of the animal is supposed to reside. II. ARTICULATA, or jointed animals, so termed because their bodies consist of a number of movable pieces jointed or articulated together. III. MOLLUSCA, or soft-bodied animals, so called because, instead of possessing any distinct skeleton, they consist merely of a soft mass, containing one or two ganglia, or knots of nervous matter, and enveloped for the most part in a hard case or shell. IV. VERTEBRATA, or animals with a backbone, so named because they have the brain and the principal trunk of their nervous system enveloped in a bony articulated case, consisting of a skull and a spine or backbone attached to it. To distinguish the first three divisions from the fourth, they are sometimes included under the joint designation of invertebrata, or invertebrate animals-that is, animals without a backbone.

These great divisions are subdivided into classes as follows:— I. RADIATA, containing five classes-1. Infusoria, or infusory animalcules, so called because they are seen by the microscope moving in millions through all water into which animal or vegetable matter has been infused; 2. Zoophyta, or 'animal plants,' called also polypi, or polypes; 3. Entozoa, or intestinal worms; 4. Radiaria, or ray-fishes. II. ARTICULATA, containing four classes—1. Annellata—that is, 'ringed animals,' including leeches and worms; 2. Cirripeda, or 'curl-footed animals,' including barnacles and sea-acorns; 3. Crustacea, or animals with a hard crust or covering,' as crabs, lobsters, shrimps, &c.; 4. Insecta, or insects, including, besides insects properly so called, spiders, scorpions, &c. which, however, are sometimes erected into a separate class termed arachnida. III. MOLLUSCA, containing five classes1. Gasteropoda, or belly-walking molluscs; 2. Conchifera, including the majority of bivalve shell-fish; 3. Brachiopoda—that is, shell-fish moving by means of long arms or cilia; 4. Pteropoda, those having neither feet nor arms, but moving by means of wings or fans; and 5. Cephalopoda, or those moving by means of tentacles round the head. IV. VERTEBRATA, containing four classes