570 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



We have, unfortunately, no autobiogi-aphical details of liis experiences as 

 Secretary of the Linnean Society, or of the eminent scientific men of the day 

 whom he came to know; and very little can bo gleaned from the Society's printed 

 records. Xor, beyond the bare statement of his official connection with the Trans- 

 port Board, have any details of his work in that direction come down to us. 



The obituary notice of Alexander Macleay read at the Anniversary Meetiug 

 of the Linnean Society of London, 24th May, 1849, subsequently printed in the 

 Proceedings (Vol. ii., p. 45), brief as it is, is the most complete biographical 

 sketch at present available. In this it is stated that — "As a naturalist, Mr. 

 MacLeay devoted himself almost exclusively to the study of insects, of which he 

 had formed, previous to his quitting England, the iinest and most extensive col- 

 lection then existing in the possession of a private individual. Of this great class 

 of animals he possessed an intimate knowledge, without, however, having pub- 

 lished anything on the subject, although he had made preparations for a mono- 

 graph of the singular genus Paiu'isun, in which his cabinet was peculiarly rich." 



The history of the collection is brieily but imperfectly given in Barff's "Short 

 Historical Account of the University of Sydney" (1902) . To this I shall refer 

 later. I am now able to give a more complete account of it. In outline, but the 

 particulars wiU be given in chronological order as far as possible, the collection 

 at the time of its arrival in Australia, in 1826, represented the British or Euro- 

 pean insects collected by Alexander and W . S . Macleay themselves, of the results 

 of exchanges with their friends, of specimens purchased from at lea.'^t six noted 

 private collections, in one ca.se during the owners lifetime, or in the others on 

 the dispersal of their collections by sale after the decease of the owners, and of 

 acquisitions of specimens from Brazil, India, North Africa, Australia, and else- 

 where, some of them possibly donations, but the details of their acquisition are 

 wanting. The fragmentary history of A. Macleay's collection is the most im- 

 portant source of information we have about the development of his interest in 

 zoology. 



Thomas Marsham (ob. 1819), and the Rev. William Ivirby (1759-1850), 

 Rector of Barham, near Ipswich, in Suffolk, seem to have been the two earliest 

 scientific friends of Alexander Macleay, who profoundly influenced him. They 

 were both senior in age, and as Fellows of the Linnean Society, keen entomologists, 

 and owners of important collections. Marsham's collection was eventually sold 

 in 1819, a few months before his decease; Kirby's was presented to the Entomolo- 

 gical Society soon after its foundation, in 1833. As Kirby lived in the country, 

 when railways were unknown, his visits to London were infrequent; but he corre- 

 sponded regularly with his scientific friends. His biography, "Life of the Rev. 

 Wm. Kirby," by John Freeman, now a scarce book, was )>ublished in 1852. 

 This is the only available source of information about mucii that relates to Alex- 

 ander Macleay tliat is of interest to us. I have been glad to make use of it. an<l 

 gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness. 



A very interesting account of an entomological excursion by Marsham and 

 Kirby into the Isle of Ely, Northamptonshire, and home by Huntingdonshire, 

 Cambridge, and Norwich, in July, 1797, is given in Freeman's "Life." Brief 

 reference is also made to an entomological excursion l)y Kirby, Marsliam, and 

 Alexander Macleay ; but neither the date nor scientific details are given. 



But a letter, to Kirby, dated "Transport Office, 5th Novemlx-r, 1802." is of 

 the gi-eatest interest, because it is the earliest record, by himself, of his interest 



