130 Mr. Tom Iredale on 



it might share the same lot as Forskal's Arabian specimens 

 at Copenhagen .... Solamler promised .... that he would 

 visit me after his return. If he had brought some of his 

 specimens with him, I could at once have told him what were 

 new .... he might have been informed or satisiied upon many 

 subjects, which after my death will not be so easily explained. 

 .... Do but consider, my friend, if these treasures are kept 

 back, Mhat may happen to them. They may be devoured by 

 vermin of all kinds. The house where they are lodged may be 

 burnt. Those destined to describe them may die ... I there- 

 fore once more beg, nay I earnestly beseech you, to urge the 

 pu1)lication of these new discoveries. I confess it to be my 

 most ardent wish to see this done before I die.^^ Linne's 

 wish, however, Avas not gratified, as although Solander and 

 Banks did not make the second voyage with Cook they went 

 to Iceland instead. It may here be conceded that it was 

 probably the irresponsibility of Banks overruling the 

 prudence of Solander that completed the desolate tale. Tor 

 though it is now known that some work was done, little 

 had been effected when Solander was struck down by 

 paralysis and passed away on the 16th of Maj% 1782. 



How fearfully fulfilled was Linne's utterance "Those 

 destined to describe them may die.''^ The specimens " may 

 be devoured by vermin of all kinds " : this appears to have 

 happened, as the majority of the forms are absolutely lost. 

 "To be thrust into some corner ^^ was literally the fate of 

 nearly everything connected with the First Voyage. 



After Solander's death, Banks does not seem to have 

 taken any interest in the zoological specimens, but apparently 

 allowed Latham to inspect the birds and bird-drawings. As 

 a result, many were described by that great ornithologist, 

 and these ha\e been, in some cases, stumbling-blocks to the 

 systematist, in that Latham did not transcribe the exact 

 localities, and, moreover, did not differentiate the incomplete 

 drawings nor indicate them as such. If Solander^s notes 

 were made available to Latham, he did not use them. The 

 Banksian drawings and manuscript j)assed into the possession 

 of the British Museum, but they were " thrust into some 



