Linncean Society. 443 



successfully cultivated various branches of Natural Science and the 

 liberal arts. Associated iu his school-days with Hatchett, and after- 

 wards with Maton, Pulteney and Cavallo, he became attached to 

 the pursuits by which his friends were distinguished, and assisted 

 warmly in the promotion of their views. In the years 1794 and 

 1796, he accompanied the two former in the tours which Dr. Maton 

 subsequently published under the title of ' Observations relative 

 chiefly to the Natural Histor}% Picturesque Scenery, and Antiquities 

 of the Western Counties of England,' and furnished with his pencil 

 the embellishments of that work, which was inscribed to him in a 

 friendly and grateful dedication. In conjunction with Dr. Maton, 

 he published in the 7th volume of our Transactions ' An Historical 

 Account of Testaceological Writers,' and in the 8th ' A Descriptive 

 Catalogue of the British Testacea.' These works may be justly 

 characterized as manifesting extensive research, careful comparison, 

 and accurate obser\'ation : the latter long continued to be the text- 

 book of British Conchologists. Dr. Maton and himseK also pub- 

 lished in our 8th volume ' An Account of some remarkable Shells 

 found in cavities of a Calcareous Stone, called by the stone-masons 

 Plymouth-Rag ;' and he subsequently contributed to the 1 1th volume 

 ' Observations on Cancer salinus,' and to the 12th, ' Observations on 

 a Viper found in Cranborne Chace, Dorsetshire,' which he presumed 

 to be Coluber Ckersea, L. In addition to his skill in the use of the 

 pencil, he was an accomplished musician, and devoted much of his 

 time to antiquarian research, as well as to the prosecution of Natural 

 and Experimental Philosophy. 



Mr. Rackett became a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1795, 

 and of the Royal Society in 1803. In the year 1780 he was insti- 

 tuted to the Rectory of Spettisbury and Charlton, in the county of 

 Dorset, and died on the 29th of November last, at the advanced age 

 of 85, after an incumbency of more than sixty years. 



The Rev. John Revett Sheppard, M.A. 



Lord Viscount Valentia. 



Nicholas Aylward Vigors, D.C.L., F.R.S., M.R.I. A., S(C., one of 

 the most eminent ornithologists of the present day, was bom in 

 1787 at Old Leighlin, in the county of Carlow, w^here his family had 

 long been settled. He was educated at Trinity College in the Uni- 

 versity of Oxford, and gave early proof of the diligence and success 

 w'ith which he pursued his classical and literary studies, by pub- 

 lishing in 1810 ' An Enquiry into the Nature and Extent of Poetick 

 Licence.' Towards the close of 1809 he purchased an Ensigncy in 

 the Grenadier Guards, and was severely wounded in the action at 

 Barrosa, in the early part of 1811. On his return to England in the 

 same year he quitted the army, and for the next twenty years 

 devoted himself to the study of Zoology, and especially of birds 

 and insects. In both these departments he formed extensive col- 

 lections, and at a subsequent period liberally presented them to the 

 Zoological Society, of which he w^as the first Secretary' and one of 

 the most zealous and active promoters. On the death of his father 

 he succeeded to the family estate, and in 1832 became the repre- 

 sentative in Parliament of the borough of Carlow, for which, or for 



