128 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD 



His earnest desire to undertake a further expedition to these 

 fascinating, and, in those days, mysterious lands, was never executed, 

 for, in 1859, he was appointed a member of the committee entrusted by 

 Alexander II., with the task of elaborating the scheme for the emanci- 

 pation of the serfs, which culminated in the famous Ukaz, of February 

 19th, 1861. Collaboration in, and the editing of an immense work, 

 Tlie (jfeoj/raiiliical Dictionanj of the RuHsian Empire, occupied his 

 energies from 1860 till 1885. As long ago as 1864 he undertook his 

 last expedition into the field, which resulted in a paper on the 

 Devonian Shales of central Eussia. In the same year he was appointed 

 Director of the Central Statistical Committee, under the Ministry of 

 the Interior, a post which he held till 1880. In 1872 he was elected 

 President of the Permanent International Statistical Commission, and 

 was appointed member of the Senate in 1887. He inspired the great 

 Russian census of 1897, but took no part in working out the results, as 

 he was appointed a member of the Imperial Council, so that he trans- 

 ferred his energies from science to legislation. In 1873 he succeeded 

 Count von Liitke as Vice-President of the Imperial Russian 

 Geographical Society,''' which entered under his auspices, upon the most 

 brilliant phase of its history. 



In spite of his numerous official occupations, he found time, in the 

 evening of his days, to produce a great work under the title " Russia," 

 in 22 volumes, a detailed monograph of the geography, geology, 

 statistics, ethnography, economy and history of his beloved father- 

 land. 



His own Geographical Society elected him Honorary Member in 

 1886, the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1873. The Royal 

 Geographical Society of London awarded him the Founder's Gold 

 Medal in 1897, and the Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin, in 1910, 

 awarded him the Ritter-Medal, striking it, as a special compliment, in 

 gold instead of silver. The Tzar conferred upon him a whole series of 

 decorations, culminating in the First Degree of the Order of St. 

 Vladimir, and the German Emperor gave the Order "Pour le Merite','' 

 in recognition of his great services to science. 



He had occupied his spare moments in forming a very rich collec- 

 tion of Palaearctic Coleoptera, reputed to be the largest private collection 

 in Europe. He had also accumulated an exceedingly fine collection of 

 pictures, entirely of the Flemish and Dutch schools, of which he was 

 acknowledged to be an unrivalled connoisseur. He rejected numerous 

 tempting offers to sell them to collectors, dealers and museums from 

 all parts of Europe, preferring to dispose of his works of art at a 

 nominal price to the famous gallery of the Hermitage, so that it is 

 preserved for the nation. 



It is characteristic of this Grand Old Man of Russia that he 

 worked up to the very day of that short sharp illness that proved 

 fatal. 



Those who had the privilege of his a.cquaintance and had enjoyed 

 his hospitality could appreciate, as well as his encycloptedic knowledge 

 and untiring energy, the kindness of heart, genial manner and constant 

 cheerfulness, due to the unbounded optimism which was the keynote 

 of his character. — M.B. 



* The President, since the foundation of the Society, was the Grand Duke 

 Constant) ne Nikolaievich. 



