147 



and Birds collected in Assam by John McClelland, Esq., Assistant- 

 Surgeon in the service of the East India Company, Bengal Esta- 

 blishment, Member of the late Deputation which was sent into that 

 country for the purpose of investigating the Jiature of the Tea 

 Plant." 



" On the return of the Deputation above-mentioned to Calcutta," 

 says Dr. Horsfield, " Mr. McClelland delivered his collection of 

 Mammalia and Birds, accompanied by a descriptive catalogue and 

 drawings of many subjects, to the Bengal Government, to be for- 

 warded to the Court of Directors. These subjects arrived safely in 

 England, and are now, with few exceptions, prepared and exhibited 

 in the Company's Museum at the India House. 



" In his official correspondence with the Bengal Government, Mr. 

 McClelland explains the object he principally had in view in making 

 the collection in the following terms : ' Having been invited to oiFer 

 any suggestion I may have to submit, as to how this portion of my 

 labour may be disposed of with most advantage, I shall, in venturing 

 an opinion, keep in view the objects with which my collections were 

 made : these were, to procure as much information as Upper Assam 

 is calculated to afford, in elucidation of the circumstances under 

 which the Tea Plant is found in that country. 



" ' Next to the relations of the plant in regard to soils, and its as- 

 sociation with other vegetable productions, the zoology of the pro- 

 vince is entitled to careful examination ; so that all its productions 

 may be compared with those of the tea districts of China. 



" ' The accompanying catalogue of animals will be found to display 

 an interesting balance numerically in favour of the extension of spe- 

 cies from the eastward, a point that ought to be carefully examined, 

 as bearing upon the main question ; for in proportion as the Tea 

 Plant is associated in Assam with the prevalence of Chinese forms, 

 the prospect of its successful cultivation becomes the more certain.' 

 — Extract from Mr. Mc Clelland's letter to the Secretary of the Ben-, 

 gal Government, 



" Mr. McClelland then expresses his desire that his Descriptive 

 Catalogue, before publication, should be revised in England, in order 

 to prevent the introduction of mere nominal species, and to conform 

 the nomenclature to the latest discoveries in science. In accordance 

 with this desire, the entire collection has been carefully compared 

 with subjects from India contained in the British Museum and in the 

 Museums of the Zoological Society and the East India Company, as 

 well as with the drawings and descriptions lately published in various 

 zoological works to which Mr. McClelland had no access. 



" The following catalogue now exhibits Mr. McClelland's collec- 

 tion, with those alterations which the progress of discoveries required, 

 and with a partial modification of the arrangement ; and in perform- 

 ing this task the only object has been to secure to Mr. McClelland 

 the discoveries he has made, and to bring before the public a faith- 

 ful statement of his zoological observations in Assam, and of the zeal 

 and ability with which he has executed the charge confided to him." 



