THE SOCIETT'S HERITAGE FROM THE MACLEAYS. 033 



dissect it until 1 had a seennd. This desideratum was supplied by my friend 

 Sir George MaeLeay, who, on a recent visit to Australia, was kind enough to 

 undertake to obtain a Ceratodus for me, and fulfilled his* promise by sending me 

 a very fine and well-preserved fish, rather lai-ger than the first" [Proc., 1876, p. 24] . 

 W. S. Macleay, who was unmarried, died in January, 1865. George was 

 his residuaiy legatee, and inherited, among other possessions, the Elizabeth Bay 

 property, the family heirlooms, and his brother's library and papers, but not the 

 Maeleay Collections, which passed to William. The object of George's visit to 

 Sydney was to put his Australian affairs in order. Mrs. George Macleay died 

 in 1869. I have in my possession William Maeleay 's journals for several years, 

 commencing with 1874. George's visit ended before this, as there is no reference 

 to it; but ttiere is a record on July 25th, 1874, that "Brazier finished packing the 

 books to-day, thirteen cases in all. There are still a large number of books 

 remaining on the shelves, but as I have no more cases, I shall not have any more 

 packed at present." The books here referred to were packed for shipment to 

 England to George Macleay, and the others were to follow. These represented 

 the balance of W. S. Macleay's library after the books which George gave to 

 William, had been taken out. An earlier notice is offered by the entry on July 

 22nd — "Brazier commenced packing up the books 1 am sending home to George 

 Macleay." And one of July 28th, records, "Brazier has been making lists of the 

 books given me by my cousin George." His visit to Australia, therefore, seems 

 to have been made after 1869 and before 1874. 



But in addition to the books, mostly entomological, G«orge gave his cousin 

 the letters, drawings, with the exception of the Stuart collection of drawings sent 

 out from England as a gift in 1887, pamphlets, or memoranda, which I have so 

 frequently spoken of, in the course of my remarks, as the relics or memorials of 

 W. S. Macleay. These were put away in the library, and, after he was rather 

 abruptly and completely prostrated by the onset of his last illness, forgotten by 

 Sir William. Everything in the house at the time of his decease was be- 

 queathed to his widow. When the time came for clearing-up the house. Lady 

 Macleay very kindly handed them over to me, as Sir William's executor and 

 trustee, who was interested in Natural History. This meeting has given me an 

 opportunity that I had been looking for, of exhibiting and recording these in- 

 teresting relics and memorials of the Madeays, preparatory to handing them over 

 to my successor, as the Society's custodian of them. 



The rest of W. S. Macleay's papers, including letters from Lowe, Huxley, 

 and probably many others, as well as any MS. records of work that there may 

 have been, were presumably taken to England by George Macleay. 



The concluding portion of Mr. Busk's Obituary Notice of W. S. Macleay is 

 as follows — "After his retirement to Australia, I am not aware that Mr. MacLeay 

 published anything; but he has left, as I am informed, a large collection of MSS. 

 on all subjects of natural history, which, as greatly to the advantage of science, 

 it would be extremely desirable should be carefully examined, and those among 

 them fitted for tlie purpose, published. There is reason, I believe, to hope that 

 this may be done, and that we may. as in foiTner days, again see the pages of the 

 'Linnean Transactions' graced by articles bearing the honoured name of William 

 Sharp Macleay." 



The Notic* was written by Mr. Busk in May 1865. apparently after con- 

 sultation with George Macleay. who was then a Member of the Council; perhaps 



