Abstract
AMONG recent additions to the zoological collections at the British Museum (Natural History) are six skins of Malagasy mammals, including a rare insectivore (Limnogale mergulus) presented by Sir Frank Colyer. Acquisitions by the Department of Geology include a series of invertebrate fossils from the Permian of Durham, presented by Dr. C. T. Trechmann. These are arranged to show how the increasing salinity of the sea in which the animals lived led to progressive dwarfing and finally to the extinction of the forms. The Mineral Department has acquired by purchase a faceted cassiterite (tin-stone), weighing 13 carats (2.713 gm.), together with a crystal of similar material, from Uganda. Cassiterite, known since classical times as the important ore of tin, has seldom provided transparent pieces of sufficient size for cutting for ornamental purposes, so that this specimen is an interesting addition to the collection of faceted stones. The purchases include a carefully collected and labelled set of Swiss rocks, together with the corresponding thin sections, which form a valuable addition to the collection of rocks. Thanks to the courtesy of the Director of the Royal Museum of Natural History at Brussels, the Museum has received part of five rock specimens which, though collected by the Challenger Expedition, were described by A. F. Renard and retained at Brussels.
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Recent Acquisitions at the Natural History Museum. Nature 136, 866 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136866a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136866a0