British Museum (Natural History): Department of Zoology: Collection Catalogues

This series consists of parts of five series of catalogues which contain details of specimens held in Zoological collections, arranged in systematic order. Information includes the Latin name, locality, collector and accession number.

The first attempt at cataloguing the zoological collections was made by William Elford Leach, who had a series of quarto volumes ruled and headed sometime soon after 1816. However, the entries in the Cephalopoda and Reptilia volumes are by J E Gray, and must have been made after his arrival in 1834. Cataloguing began in earnest after 1837, following the recommendations of a Parliamentary Select Committee. Accession registers were opened and classified catalogues begun, with a view to eventual publication.

The second series of catalogues (pieces 3-10) are vellum octavos written by J E Gray. Few accession numbers are included, and they at least partly predate 1837. The third series (pieces 11-15) were also vellum octavos by J E Gray, but have been rebound in cloth. The fourth series are rebound octavos which may have been originally bound in vellum. Most entries include register numbers, and they postdate 1837. Although J E Gray wrote some entries, two other unidentified writers are also represented. The fifth series are half-foolscap in size. The writer of the Radiata volume is unknown; the remainder were written by Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas, who joined the Museum in 1878 as Assistant in charge of mammals.

Series held at The Natural History Museum are catalogued more fully in its online catalogue (reference DF ZOO/219). Online descriptions of some individual records can also be viewed on Discovery, see DF 219.

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