1G6 Linnean Society. [May 24, 



Account of Testaceological Writers/ and in the 8tli ' A Descriptive 

 Catalogue of the British Testacea.' These works may be justly- 

 characterized as manifesting extensive research, careful comparison, 

 and accurate observation : the latter long continued to be the text- 

 book of British Conchologists. Dr. Maton and himself also pub- 

 lished in our 8th volume ' An Account of some remarkable Shells 

 found in cavities of a Calcareous Stone, called by the stone-masons 

 Plymouth-Rag ;' and he subsequently contributed to the 1 1th volume 

 ' Observations on Cancer salinus,' and to the 12th, ' Observations on 

 a Viper found in Cranborne Chace, Dorsetshire,' which he presumed 

 to be Coluber Cher sea, L. In addition to his skill in the use of the 

 pencil, he was an accomplished musician, and devoted much of his 

 time to antiquarian research, as well as to the prosecution of Natural 

 and Experimental Philosophy. 



Mr. Rackett became a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1795, 

 and of the Royal Society in 1803. In the year 1780 he was insti- 

 tuted to the Rectory of Spettisbury and Charlton, in the county of 

 Dorset, and died on the 29th of November last, at the advanced age 

 of 85, after an incumbency of more than sixty years. 



The Rev. John Revett Sheppard, M.A. 



Lord Viscount Valentia. 



Nicholas Aylward Vigors, D.C.L., F.R.S., M.R.I. A., &;c., one of 

 the most eminent ornithologists of the present day, was born in 

 1787 at Old Leighlin, in the county of Carlow, where his family had 

 long been settled. He was educated at Trinity College in the Uni- 

 versity of Oxford, and gave early proof of the diligence and success 

 with which he pursued his classical and literary studies, by pub- 

 lishing in 1810 'An Enquiry into the Nature and Extent of Poetick 

 Licence.' Towards the close of 1809 he purchased an Ensigncy in 

 the Grenadier Guards, and was severely wounded in the action at 

 Barrosa, in the early part of 1811. On his return to England in the 

 same year he quitted the army, and for the next twenty years 

 devoted himself to the study of Zoology, and especially of birds 

 and insects. In both these departments he formed extensive col- 

 lections, and at a subsequent period liberally presented them to the 

 Zoological Society, of which he was the first Secretary and one of 

 the most zealous and active promoters. On the death of his father 

 he succeeded to the family estate, and in 1832 became the repre- 

 sentative in Parliament of the borough of Carlow, for which, or for 

 the cormty of the same name, he continued to sit until the termina- 

 tion of his life on the 26th of last October. 



