XII BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF PHILIP LUTLEY SCLATER. 



of the council. He was formally elected to it on April 30, 1859, and 

 he has been re-elected annually ever since. 



He found it necessary to devote himself entirely for three years to 

 the reorganization of the affairs of the Society. The " Proceedings" 

 and "Transactions" were at that time several years in arrears — they 

 were brought up to date; the Garden Gruide, which was out of print, 

 was rewritten; the large staff at the gardens was rearranged and 

 divided into departments under the superintendent, and various other 

 reforms were introduced. 



For thirty-five years his life has been almost entirely spent in work 

 connected with natuiial history. 



In 1874, when his brother (then the Right Hon. George Sclater- 

 Booth, M. P., and afterwards Lord Basing) accepted office in Mr. 

 Disraeli's administration as president of the local government ])oard, 

 Mr. Sclater became his private secretary, a i^osition which he occu- 

 pied for two years. But when subsequently offered a permanent 

 place in the civil service he declined it, because he could not make 

 up his mind to give up his dearly loved work in natural history. 



His most engrossing duties have been in connection with the 

 Zoological Society of London, to which, as principal executive officer, 

 he has, of course, devoted most of his time. It is conceded by all 

 that its affairs have prospered well under his direction. The number 

 of fellows of the society, in 1859 about 1,700, has increased to over 

 3,000. The income of the society, which in 1858 was a little over 

 £14,000, is now seldom under £25,000. Besides this, nearly all of the 

 principal buildings in the society's gardens have been rebuilt during 

 the past thirty-five years and fitted up with every sort of modern 

 convenience for animals. The old office building (No. 11 Hanover 

 square) has l)een sold and a larger and more convenient <nie (No. 3 

 Hanover square) bought in the same vicinity. A debt of £12,000 to 

 the society's bankers, originally secured upon its house, has been 

 paid off, and this property is now entirely the property of the 

 Society without any sort of incumbrance. 



The first floor of the society's house is devoted to the accomodation 

 of a large and very valuable zoological library, under the care of a 

 librarian and his assistant, and is the constant resort of the working 

 zoologists of the metropolis. This library has been almost entirely 

 accumulated since 1859. 



The publications of the society, consisting of Proceedings, Trans- 

 actions, Lists of Animals (of which eight editions have been pub- 

 lished), the "Garden Guide" and "Zoological Record," are all issued 

 from this office, with almost unfailing regularity. The scientific 

 meetings of the societj^ are held here during the eight months of the 

 scientific session, and an abstract of their proceedings is always 

 printed and issued within a week after each meeting has taken place. 



Mr. Sclater was selected by the British Onithologists' Union as the 

 first editor of "The Ibis," in 1859. He finished the first series in 18G4. 



