KOBELT : OTTO FRANZ VON MOELLENDORPF. 123 



till 1880 in Peking, Tientsin, and Shanghai ; afterwards as Consul in 

 Canton, Hong Kong, and again at Canton. But for higher positions 

 two things stood in his way — an old family failing, a too stubborn nature, 

 and his love for natural science, which latter seemed to competent judges 

 inexplicable and very suspicious — so, being a master of the Chinese langu- 

 age and intimate with their circumstances, he was transferred to Manila. 



In China he had already collected with unwearied perseverance, and 

 made several converts to Malacology, increasing our knowledge in quite 

 an unexpected manner. In the Philippines such results were scarcely to 

 be expected ; for, according to the general opinion, the islands had been 

 thoroughly searched by Cuming, Semper, Jiiger, and Quadras, and small 

 species there were totally unknown. This, however, seemed to the new 

 Consul, after his experiences in the South of China, simply impossible, 

 in spite of the assertions of Quadras. Indeed, MoalleudorfE soon had the 

 opjDortunity of proving he was in the right. It gave him much pleasure 

 to tell how on the first trip with Quadras to Montalban, near Manila, and 

 face to face with the lime rocks, he said to his companion if there be no small 

 species here, he would confess that he was in the wrong, and throwing them- 

 selves full length on the ground at the foot of the rocks, Quadras was the 

 first to find a small operculate, which proved to be a new species. There- 

 upon, the spell was broken, and quite an unthought-of abundance of 

 minute forms rewarded the collecting. For eleven years, from 1886 to 

 1896, Moellendorfi kept on, so far as his official duties permitted, and not 

 only Quadras as well, but some German friends also. Moellendorff added 

 to the molluscan fnuna of the Philippines, directly or indirectly, some 

 eight hundred species. No sacrifice seemed too great to him, in view of 

 his aim — the exact knowledge of the ^Archipelago. 



Alos ! he could not escape the consequences of his I<?ngthencd stay 

 in a tropical climate ; anaemia and heart weakness laid hold of him, and 

 in the autumn of 1896 no other choice was left him but to look out for a 

 cooler climate. The German Empire had for a man who had spent twenty- 

 three years' service in the tropics sacrificing his health, no other position 

 than the Consulship at Kowno. No choice was left him in consideration 

 of a large family, and so from 1896 until 1901 he had to remain in that 

 remote forlorn place, severed from any intellectual impulse. Here also 

 he did not rest, for he succeeded in rousing some interest for investigation 

 of the home country, and in founding a Natural Science Club. 



Then a happier fate appeared to beckon him. The new Frankfurt 

 Academy of Commerce was to be inaugurated, and a man with experience 

 in Consular office was sought for to undertake the lectures on Consulate 

 business and commercial geography. As soon as attention was directed 

 to Moellendorff, who by reason of his great experience and wide learning 

 was particularly adapted for the position, he had only to accept the position 

 with pleasure ; and so in October, 1901. he settled at Frankfurt. Tho 

 dream of his life was accomplislied, an independent scientific emjDloymsnt 



