The retirement of Sir William Flower from the office of Director of the British Museum of Natural History, which took place on September 30, after fourteen years of extremely efficient and active service, will be viewed with regret by the great majority of naturalists throughout the country. That he achieved the completion of all his plans would be to claim too much in so limited a period of time, but that he succeeded in illustrating how a Natural History Museum may be rendered attractive to the general public and may also be a place of instruction to the student, no one will deny.