XVI 



life was one of his chief characteristics. He also joined Mr. Sclater, 

 who had long been working on the birds of South and Central 

 America, in the publication of ' Exotic Ornithology ' (a series of plates 

 <and accompanying memoirs limited however to forms of the New 

 World) and of the ' Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium ' (1873). He 

 further contributed the Trorliilidce and Procellariidce on which last 

 group he became the acknowledged authority to the British Museum 

 * Catalogue of Birds ' (vols. xvi and xxv), and almost his latest labour 

 was that of completing and arranging the late Lord Lilford's ' Coloured 

 Figures of British Birds,' while this Society's ' Catalogue of Scientific- 

 Papers,' enumerates forty-seven published by Mr. Salvin alone, fifty- 

 four by him and Mr. Sclater jointly, and twenty-three by him and Mr. 

 Godman. His chief entomological work, for the most part executed 

 in conjunction with the gentleman last named, and ostensibly limited 

 to the Rhopaloeera, is to be found in their grand undertaking ; but 

 there are probably few pages in that publication which do not bear 

 silent witness to his careful supervision. 



Mention has been made of his skill in carpentry, and this was not 

 without a very useful result. For several years he, with his own 

 hands, constructed the cabinets needed to hold his ever-increasing 

 collections, and was thereby led to think out a scheme for overcoming 

 what almost all collectors had hitherto found to be a serious hindrance 

 the inconvenience produced by having, when arranging a collection 

 .systematically, to interpose shallow among deep drawers, or the con- 

 verse, owing to the different size of the specimens to be housed, and 

 causing in many cases a great waste of space. He devised a system of 

 cabinets in which the drawers, each being a multiple of the same unit, 

 became practically interchangeable. His plan, simple enough in theory, 

 involved several ingenious improvements and adaptations, such as a 

 technical expert only could supply, before it was perfected. Having 

 been adopted by some of his private friends, it was introduced into 

 the Museum of Zoology at Cambridge, and afterwards, with a modifi- 

 cation, whereby the chief advantage of the original idea was lost, into 

 the Natural History portion of the British Museum. Its use has since 

 been very generally copied ; for its merits, when understood, are 

 obvious. 



Elected to this Society in 1873, Mr. Salvin was also a member of 

 the Linneaii, the Zoological and the Entomological Societies, on the 

 Councils of all of which he frequently served ; and it may be truly 

 said that there were few naturalists whose opinion was more often 

 sought, for his advice was generally sound. His figure was well known 

 At the Athenaeum Club, and last year he was elected an Honorary 

 Fellow of his old College. He had suffered for several years from an 

 affection of the heart, and was well aware of the precarious tenure of 

 his life. He continued in his usual condition of health until a few 



