574 president's address. 



On the eviclenee, it seems to be a reasonable conclusion that Dr. Smith and 

 A. JIacleay successfully opposed the publication of nondescript insects, and 

 that T. LewLn accepted and made use of the technical descriptions; but that, 

 ■wishing to keep the naming of the insects as much as possible in his own hands, 

 he did not accept al! the binomial names proposed by Mr. Macleay, and altered 

 some at least of them to suit his own ideas. The proposed new generic name 

 did not get into print; and A. Macleay certainly cannot be held responsible for 

 the specific names of Sphinx Ardenia, Tortrix Australqna, and especially that 

 of the insect now known as Charagia lignivora Lewin, but described and figured 

 in Plate xvi., and referred to in the index, as Hepialus Ligniveren. Nor is the 

 expression "Noctua Hepialus" likely to have been his, in the statement — "The 

 larvaa of this beautiful Noctua Hepialus feeds" (sic), &c. From these, and other 

 peculiarities, T. Lewin seems to have been responsible for the form in which all 

 the text, except the technical descriptions and tlie sectional names, finally ap- 

 peared . 



Another relic of J. "W. Lewin acquired by A. Macleay was what seem to 

 be first impressions of three of the plates of Lewin's "Birds of New Holland," 

 the first edition of which wa.s published in 1808. The plates are roughly bound- 

 up with three pages of text in manuscript, without binomial names, or descriptions 

 which an ornithologist would consider satisfactory. They were perhaps intended 

 as a sort of prospectus for possible subscribers to the work. 



Some very interesting information about Alexander Macleay's entomological 

 acquisitions are given in a letter from Kirby to his friend Spenee, in a letter of 

 date September 24th. 1806: "I have boxes [of insects] from Haworth and 



[W. J.] Hooker to name In London, I went over Sir Joseph's 



[Banks] Staphylini; but there was nothing very remarkable among them, except 

 S. aureus, which is of the same family with S. murinus, &c. I found several non- 

 descript species in Mr. M'Lcay's cabinet, which he purchased from the Leverian 

 Museum, and one large and blue one from old Drury's ealiinet. And the ]iiece 

 of entomological news I can tell you — that ]\I'Leay has purchased all Donovan's 

 foreign insects, a most valuable addition to his collection, which, in value, falls 

 not far short of Franeillon's." [p. 281.] These are the only records of purchases 

 from the two collections mentioned that I know of. Sir Ashton Lever, who lived 

 at Alkington, near Manchester, brought his collection to London about 1775, where i 

 it was opened to the public. Tt was subsequently disposed of by lottery in 1785, 

 and came into the possession 'of Mr. Pai-kinson. It was eventually sold by auc- 

 tion in 180(5, the sale lasting about a month. It was a celebrated collection in its 

 day, and the sale attracted much attention. Some of the specimens had been 

 presented to Lever by Captain Cook. 



Alexander Macleay's Collection was supplemented by extensive purchases 

 from the collections of Mr. Francillon and Mr. Marsliam, in the years 1818 and 

 1819. We have, in the Society's library, ^^Ir. Macleay's copies of the sale- 

 catalogues of these collections, with MS. notes, possibly representing his purchases. 

 I have been unable to find any biographical details respecting these two entomolo- 

 gists. 



The Francillon Collection, a celebrated one in its day, was sold by auction, in 

 .Tune, 1818, shortly after the owner's decease. Charles Lyell, the geologist, was 

 interested in entomology in his younger days. In a letter to liis father, written 

 from Yarmouth, on .Tuly 20tli. 1S17. after a visit to London, lie says: "I visited 



