Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. 



Volume 121 1967 Number 3579 



VALID ZOOLOGICAL NAMES 

 OF THE PORTLAND CATALOGUE 



By Harald a. Rehder 



Research Curator, Division of Mollusks 



Introduction 



An outstanding patroness of the arts and sciences in eighteenth- 

 century England was Lady Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess 

 of Portland, wife of William, Second Duke of Portland. At Bulstrode 

 in Buckinghamshire, magnificent summer residence of the Dukes of 

 Portland, and in her London house in Whitehall, Lady Margaret — a 

 widow for the last 23 years of her life — entertained gentlemen in- 

 terested in her extensive collection of natural history and objets d'art. 

 Among these visitors were Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, 

 pupil of Linnaeus. As her own particular interest was in conchology, 

 she received from both of these men many specimens of shells gathered 

 on Captain Cook's voyages. Apparently Solander spent considerable 

 time working on the conchological collection, for his manuscript 

 on descriptions of new shells was based largely on the "Portland 

 Museum." 



When Lady Margaret died in 1785, her "Museum" was sold at 

 auction. The task of preparing the collection for sale and compiling 

 the sales catalogue fell to the Reverend John Lightfoot (1735-1788). 

 For many years librarian and chaplain to the Duchess and scientif- 



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