LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDOK. Ixiii 



Museum, in which, for many years, he had the entire charge of the 

 noble collection of birds contained in it. His earliest contributions 

 to science were made to the English translation, with large additions, 

 of Cuvier's ' Animal Kingdom,' at that time in course of publication, 

 under the superintendence of Mr. Griffith ; and he soon afterwards 

 produced a ' Revision of the Phasmidse ' (4to), with illustrative plates, 

 and other entomological publications, which are still regarded as 

 valuable contributions to entomological science, to which he always 

 continued to be much attached. But his leading works are those 

 relating to ornithology. They commenced in 1840, by a * List 

 of the Genera of Birds,' 8vo, privately printed, but largely dis- 

 tributed by him, in which he enumerated 1005 genera, and indi- 

 cated for each of them the type on which it was founded. In 

 1841 he published a second edition of this work, containing many 

 additions and corrections; and in 1842 an Appendix, in both of 

 which the number of generic divisions was increased to 1232. But 

 his greatest work, and that on which his fame was principally 

 founded, and which wUl always remain as a lasting memorial of his 

 great ornithological knowledge, was ' The Genera of Birds,' in 4to, 

 published in conjunction with the late David William Mitchell, who 

 furnished the illustrations. This work, commenced in 1844, and 

 completed in 1849, gives figui'es, beautifully executed, of about 

 800 genera, selected from those contained in his previous publi- 

 cations as the most important, with carefully prepared distinctive 

 characters, and under each genus an extensive list of the species 

 belonging to it. It is the great work on which the science of 

 ornithology now rests, and many public collections, both in Europe 

 and America, have been arranged in accordance with it. It is 

 executed with immense labour, and with an accuracy seldom equalled, 

 and must be regarded as the greatest work on ornithology that 

 has appeared in our times. The author was iudefatigable in his 

 labours to complete and improve it ; and in 1855 he published what 

 might be regarded as a third edition of his first-named work, under 

 the title of a ' List of Genera and Subgenera of Birds,' in which he 

 increased the number of divisions enumerated to 2403. Still more 

 completely to show the present state of the science, he has since 

 printed a ' Hand-list of the Genera and Species of Birds,' embracing, 

 in addition, a comprehensive list of the species belonging to each 

 division and subdivision as far as known to him. In all these 

 publications it is scarcely possible to overestimate the laborious 

 accuracy with which information was sought in every available 



