G48 Ohitmirij. 



always comniaiuled Sclat,ei''s hearty interest. He ])ecarac a 

 life-member o£ the Royal Geographical Society in 1880, and 

 attended its meetings very regularly. He also served two 

 years on the Council, and was a member of the Geographical 

 Club. He assisted in promoting many researches in foreign 

 parts, chiefly, however, with a view to obtaining collections 

 in natural history from strange places. Among tliese may 

 be especially mentioned Sir H. H. Johnston's expedition to 

 Kilima-njaro in 1884' and Professor Bayley Balfour's visit 

 to Socotra in 1880. He also took a leading part in sending 

 out naturalists to Kerguelen Land and Rodriguez with the 

 Transit-of- Venus Expeditions of 1874-75, and in many other 

 similar cfl'orts to explore little-known parts of the earth's 

 surface. 



In fact his work on Geographical Distribution and 

 Classification may be considered his greatest claim to tiie 

 gratitude of posterit3\ Of the former subject he set forth his 

 views soon after 1858, when he suggested for the acceptance 

 of ornithologists his six well-known geographical regions, 

 while later he wrote, jointly with his son William, on the 

 geographical distribution of Mammals. With regard to the 

 latter subject, he propounded a Classification of the Class 

 Avesin 'The Ibis ' for 1880. 



In 1884 he took advantage of the opportunity of the visit 

 of the British Association to Montreal to cross the Atlantic 

 a second time, and after the meeting to again visit the United 

 States. He was not in good health at that period, and did 

 little, if anything, in the way of zoology. But he had the 

 pleasure of seeing several of his former friends, especially 

 Messrs. Lawrence and Baird, and of making the personal 

 acquaintance of Mr. Ridgway, Mr. Allen, Mr. Brewster, 

 Dr. Merriam, and many other naturalists. 



One of his closest friends was the late Professor Huxley, 

 long a member of the Council of the Zoological Society, 

 where he was one of Sclater's most constant supporters. 

 Professor Huxley, it may be said, was the chief advocate of 

 tlie project of employing an anatomist at the Society's 



