172 



THE OSPREY. 



Sylvanus Hanley, with new text, as a second 

 edition of "Exotic Conchology; or Figures and 

 Descriptions of beautiful, or undescribed shells". 



After having" made most of his arrangements 

 for emigration, he learned of the retirement of 

 John George Children from the keepership of the 

 Zoological Department of the British Museum 

 and, in March, 1840, sent an application for the 

 vacant position to the Archbishop of Canterbury 

 (Rev. Dr. William Howley) in whose power the 

 appointment rested. The Archbishop does not 

 seem to have gone beyond the acknowledgment 

 of receipt of Ssvainson's letter.* At the same 

 time, he applied to Children, asking' him to use 

 his influence to promote the candidature, but 

 Children declined to do so, and expressed the 

 opinion that J. E. Gray, then a subordinate in 

 the department, was t lie one best qualified for 

 the post. 



Swainson was not content to look out for his 

 material welfare. He was solicitous for his 

 spiritual future and not only for his own, but 

 for his fellow creatures. He contemplated some 

 missionary work in New Zealand, and sought 

 information from several persons. J. Bunting' 

 (21 April, 1850) gave him information about 

 such matters and also (11 November, 1840) fur- 

 nished him with a letter of introduction to mis- 

 sionaries in New Zealand; Mr. D. Coates also 

 wrote (27 March, 1840) to him g-iving further in- 

 formation. Mr. E. S. Cotton of London also 

 sent him letters (18 August, 1838 and 14 Jan- 

 uary, 1840) about religious matters. 



Swainson did not intend to abandon zoologi- 

 cal studies, and was careful to give notice that 

 he intended still to prosecute his investigations 

 and to continue collecting. Adam White was 

 not the only one he conferred with about future 

 work; he also communicated with Hugh dim- 

 ming', the great shell collector (24 November, 

 1840), as well as with Edward Doubleday (8 July 

 and 20 July, 1840), C. S. Rafinesque (April, 1840), 

 and others. 



His parting words in the autobiographical 

 sketch published late in 1840 were — 



"The greater part of my collections, I trust, 

 will be transported to New Zealand, where they 

 may possibly stimulate others to the study of 

 nature, and form the basis of a Zoological In- 

 stitution. My career, as a professional author, 

 will soon, close". And he adds, in a foot note, 

 instructions as to his future address: — 



"That my foreign correspondents may not 

 construe this into a total abandonment of zoolo- 

 gical pursuits, I still hope to communicate with 

 them as heretofore; I shall be most happy to ex- 

 change duplicate insects, etc., particularly from 

 India, America, the Cape, and different parts of 

 Australia. For this purpose, parcels sent to me 

 to England, should be directed to the care of 

 Messrs. Longman, Orme, and Co., Paternoster 

 Row; or, to W. Shuckard, Esq., librarian to the 

 Royal Society, Somerset House, London. But 

 as Sydney is the most direct channel of commu- 

 cation between New Zealand, India, and the 

 Brazils, anything sent from those quarters may 

 be addressed to the care of Mr. Reid. chemist, 

 Sydney; or to the "care of the Officer in charge 



of the Commissariat of Accounts, Svdney, New 

 South Wales' ". 



It is not altogether easy to reconcile the 

 "trust" as to "the greater part of [his] collec- 

 tions" with the fact that he had disposed of 

 them before leaving. Possibly he might not 

 have completed his negotiations and might have 

 despaired of doing so when he wrote. 



The industry of Swainson, it will have been 

 seen, was manifested in the production of at 

 least one and often two volumes a year. Con- 

 sequently he must have made good use of his 

 time and allowed little to go to waste. Never- 

 theless, editors and publishers often prodded 

 him to greater expedition. Lardner frequently 

 wrote, urging him to more speed, but appears 

 to have given up in January, 1838. The pub- 

 lishers, Long'mau & Co., in April (24), 1840, 

 wrote, "pressing him for completion of the 

 'Cabinet of Nat. Hist.' before his departure" 

 from England. Incidentally, too, there was 

 much correspondence about terms and money 

 matters and Swainson presented bills and de- 

 mands which were resisted by the publishers. 

 It seems that Swainson received ,£200 for the 

 Preliminary volume. 



There was considerable correspondence, also, 

 between the Edinburgh publisher, W. H. 

 Lizars, and Swainson relative to the volumes for 

 the Naturalist's Library. In one letter (25 

 January. 1837), Lizars "remonstrated against 

 S's overcharges for his contributions to the 

 'Naturalists' Library' " and adds that the editor, 

 Sir William Jardine, also "thinks them exorbi- 

 tant." 



Finally, however. Swainson completed the 

 volumes for which he had contracted and settled 

 with the publishers, apparently to their satis- 

 faction. 



Late in 1840, Swainson with his children left 

 England in a vessel bound for New Zealand. 

 That vessel was disabled and obliged to deviate 

 from its course and visit Rio de Janeiro to refit. 

 It has been reported that many of his effects, 

 and among them his collection of drawings, 

 were lost to himself at least. Nevertheless, 

 much may have been rescued, for his corres- 

 pondence for many years was saved. 



His biographer for the Linna;an Society in- 

 forms us that, "on his arrival in New Zealand, 

 he soon found that he had been misled by ex- 

 aggerated representations. He did not, how- 

 ever, suffer himself to be dejected by these 

 losses and disappointments". From Rio de 

 Janeiro, "he had brought with him numerous 

 vegetable productions, which he thought would 

 be suitable to the climate of New Zealand, and 

 he set himself energetically to work to establish 

 himself in his new abode". 



He eventually settled at a place called "Fern 

 Grove" on the River Hutt. 



The present writer has been unable to obtain 

 any definite information respecting his life in 

 the colonies. Part of it was spent later, in 

 1851, in New South Wales and. in 1853, in Tas- 

 mania. In Tasmania, he appeared to have been 



{Concluded on page i?6.) 



lSee Taxidermy, etc., p. 34t>. 





