LINNEAK SOCIETY OF LOSDOX. 15 



The President's ANHiTEHSARr Address. 



The appearance in the last volumes of the E. Swedish Academy of 

 Sciences of ttvo papers * descriptive of such Linnean type-specimens 

 of Birds, Amj^hibians and Fishes as are still preserved in the 

 Zoological Museums of Upsala and Stockholm, has reminded me 

 that the Linnean Society possesses also a number of Fishes from 

 Linne's private collection, many of which have served as types or 

 cotypes for the species enumerated in the ' Systema Naturte,' and 

 "which have never been catalogued. 



It is many years ago since my attention was first drawn to the 

 existence of this collection by that devoted servant of the Society, 

 Richard Kippist ; unfortunately too late to allow me to make due 

 i;se of it for my ' Catalogue of Fishes in the British Museum,' 

 which at that time (1862) had been advanced to the fourth volume. 

 I was, however, able to identify some of Linne's Pleuronectidag. 

 There the matter rested, until the year of the International 

 Fisheries Exhibition, when the late Mr. Brown Goode and Dr. Bean 

 came to London in charge of the American exhibits. I called 

 their attention to the Linnean specimens, many of which, being of 

 American origin, had a particular interest to American ichthyo- 

 logists. The intimate acquaintance of those two gentlemen with 

 the fishes of their own country led to a number of important 

 identifications, which they published in the ' Proceedings of the 

 United States National Museum,' vol. viii. 1886, pp. 193-203. But 

 this paper included only a part of the American specimens ; 

 and, besides, it seemed to me desirable to record such particulars 

 about the condition, history, label of each individual specimen, as 

 to place its identity, as far as possible, beyond any doubt for the 

 benefit of future inquirers. 



I therefore devoted some portion of last year to a critical study 

 of the collection, and to the preparation of a complete Catalogue, 

 ■which I have the pleasure of offering to you for our ' Proceedings.' 

 Of course, I spare you the reading of this Catalogue, but if you 

 will permit me I will offer some general remarks on the collection. 



The collection consists now entirely of dried half-skins of fiih 

 either loose or mounted on folio sheets of paper ; many have been 



* " Linnean Type specimens cf Birds, Reptiles, Batrachians, and Fishes in 

 the Zoologiciil Museum of the R. University in Upsala, revised by Dr. Einar 

 Lonnberg." Bihang till K. Svensk. Vet.-Akad. Handl., Bd. xxii. no. 1. 



" Catalogue of Linnean Tjpe-speciinens of Snakes in the E.. Museum in 

 Stockholm." By Lars Gabriel Andersson. Ibid. Bd. xxiv. no. 6. 



