THE society's heritage from the macleats. 577 



an Australian species), included a Volute (F. lineata) and various insects from 

 Australia, including Phasma violescens (figured from the splendid collection of 

 Mr. Macleay) ; Myrmelemi erythrocephala, Mantis Australiae, Nymphes myrme- 

 leonides, Hipparchia Banksiae, and Papilio Macleayanus, "named after my much 

 esteemed friend, Alexander Macleay, Esq., Secretary of the Linnean Society, to 

 whom I cannot suflBciently express my full sense of his repeated marks of kind- 

 ness and friendship"; one species from New Caledonia; and one or two from un- 

 certain localities. 



The insects described by Vigors included specimens collected in the vicinity 

 of Madras, and brought to England by Major Sale, of the East India Company's 

 service; others from North Africa, collected by Captain Lyon, R.N., the com- 

 panion of Mr. Ritchie, who died at Mourzouk, on 20th November, 1819; and some 

 from Brazil, collected by Mr. Such. 



In the first part of the Horse Entomological (1819), W. S. Macleay men- 

 tions that his father possessed a cabinet containing nearly 1800 species of the 

 Linnean genus Scarahaeus; and the study of these, mainly, resulted in his first 

 contribution to knowledge. Specimens were described or recorded from Northern 

 and Southern Europe, North Africa, Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Isle of 

 Bourbon, India, East India, China, Java, North America, Georgia, South 

 America, Brazil, Demerara, Cayenne, Trinidad, Jamaica, Australasia, New Hol- 

 land, and Van Dienian's Land. The material studied in the second part was in 

 other collections, chiefly that of the British Museum. 



As evidence that Alexander Macleay's official connection with the Linneaa 

 Society had broadened his interest in Natural History, it is interesting to note 

 that this was not wholly confined to insects. At one time he seems to have 

 had a collection of South American bird-skins. This is referred to by two 

 writers. Dr. Leach says of Laniux lineatus : "This elegant bird, which is figured 

 from Mr. MacLeay's collection, inhabits Berbice" [Naturalists' Miscellany, Vol. i., 

 p. 22, 1817] . ' 



Mr. G. Such, of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, who had resided for some time in 

 Brazil, in describing a new species of the family Laniadae, Thamnophilus macu- 

 latiis, says of it : "I had originally conceived that my specimen was the first which 

 had been brought to England ; but I found a second in Mr. MacLeay's collection. 

 Its chief difference, as has been pointed out to me by Mr. W. S. 

 MacLeay," &c. [Zoological Journal, i., p. 557] . In both these cases the speci- 

 mens referred to were probably included in the first two of Alexander Macleay's 

 donations to the Museum of the Linnean Society — "34 Birds from Berbice [Trans. 

 Linn. Soc, vol. x., p. 413, 1811] ; and "11 specimens of Birds from New South 

 Wales, not before in the Society's collection" [Vol. xii., p. 598, 1818]. This and 

 his third donation of "Two specimens of Quadrupeds, and six Birds from New 

 South Wales," as recorded in Vol xiii., p. 636, 1822, show that he was in receipt 

 of specimens from Australia, other than insects, from undisclosed sources, even 

 at this early period. 



Except for a few specimens which W. S. Macleay needed to retain for study, 

 the Macleay Collection, as it was brought out to Australia by Alexander Macleay, 

 in 1825, comprised British insects collected by A. Macleay; British or other 

 European insects collected by W. S. Macleay; gifts from or exchanges with their 

 friends; specimens purchased from at least six important private collections [Dru 

 Drury's, Ashton Lever's (Parkinson's), E. Donovan's, Francillon's, Marsham's, 



