1 84 Memoir uf the lute Jolm Wolley. 



Matlock — his birth-place — and his vast collection of eggs has 

 been handed over to Mr. Alfred Newton, whose intention it is 

 to publish a full catalogue of the treasures it contains, as a 

 fitting memorial of him who formed it. Wolley had been for 

 some time in the habit of sending yearly to the Museum at 

 Norwich most of the skins of the birds obtained by himself or 

 his agents in Lapland. Since his decease, his father has hand- 

 somely presented to the same deserving institution the remaining 

 portion of the collection, where it will be known as the " Wolley 

 Donation,'' and where it must always form an object of no 

 common interest to naturalists, particularly to those engaged in 

 the special study of the local variation of species, as well as to 

 those who, through Wolley 's generosity, or his annual sales *, 

 have become possessed of duplicates of his eggs, many of which 

 are thereby thoroughly identified. It has been, and always will 

 be, a matter of regret, that his active mode of life and his pre- 

 mature death prevented his giving to the world the connected 

 account of his discoveries, which he had meditated. But it is 

 hoped that the copious notes which he was so careful to make 

 on almost every occasion will enable their present possessor to 

 remedy this deficiency in some degree, in the catalogue which 

 he contemplates publishing. Wolley had, however, already 

 made known many valuable results of his experience, which will 

 be found chiefly in the pages of ' The Zoologist,' and in the last 

 edition of his friend Mr. Hewitson's admirable work on Oology. 

 To describe John Wollev's character at any length is not 

 the intention of the writer. He has attempted, without the 

 desire of unduly exalting the value of Natural Science, to give 

 in outline the chief events of a life which, if the study of God's 

 creatures deserves any encouragement, cannot be said to have 

 been uselessly spent ; and if unswerving devotion to the cause 



* The amount realized at these sales has been greatly exaggerated by 

 rumour, especially on the Continent. The writer has the best possible 

 authority for stating that the gross receipts of the seven sales which took 

 place between 1853 and 1859 inclusive, did not exceed <iC940. From 

 this must be deducted all expenses, the amount of which is not easily 

 computed ; but some idea of their extent may be gathered from the fact 

 that, in one season alone, collecting the eggs of a single species cost Wolley 

 nearly ^^90. 



