British Museum (Natural History): Acquisitions

Abstract

RECENT acquisitions in the Department of Zoology include a collection of Northern Rhodesian mounted heads and skulls of ungulates made chiefly at Mpika by the late Mr. F. H. Melland and presented by Mrs. Melland. The collection contains some very fine sable and roan antelope heads and is of special interest in that the species represent a transition stage from the southerly types of South Africa to the more northerly forms found in Tanganyika Territory and Kenya Colony. Another interesting gift is the skull of a hippopotamus from Nigeria presented by Mrs. Piper. Purchases include a large collection of South American mammals from Dutch Guiana, and another from Ecuador. The latter is worthy of special mention since it contains a series representing that most interesting genus of Diproto-dont marsupials, Caenolestes. The Department of Mineralogy has received a series of specimens of Darwin glass from Mt. Darwin, Tasmania, collected and arranged by the late Mr. Hartwell Condor and presented by his widow. Darwin glass is a silica glass. The usands of tons of it in the form of rounded and rod-like pieces are found over an area of sixty square miles in Tasmania. It is believed that the silica-glass was formed by the heat engendered by the impact of a large meteorite. Some crystals of the rare mineral withamite, a pink varioty of epidote, have been presented by Mr. W. G. Myers, who found them at the type locality in Glencoe where the now road has cut through the lavas in which withamite occurs. Good crystals of this mineral are rare. A very large rough crystal of microcline feldspar from Norway has been purchased. This crystal measures about 14 × 12 × 10 inches and weighs about 100 pounds.