296 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 88. 



in Mr. Disraeli's administration as Presi- 

 dent of the Local Government Board, Mr. 

 Sclater became his private secretary, a po- 

 sition which he occupied for two years. 

 But when subsequently offered a place in 

 the civil service he declined it, because he 

 could not make up his mind to give up his 

 dearly loved work in natural history. 



His most engrossing duties have been in 

 connection with the Zoological Society of 

 London, to which, as principal executive 

 officer, he has, of course, devoted most of 

 his time. It is conceded by all that its 

 affairs have prospered well under his di- 

 rection. The number of Fellows of the So- 

 ciety, in 1859 about 1,700, has increased to 

 over 3,000. The income of the Society, 

 which in 1858 was a little over £14,000, is 

 now seldom under £25,000. Besides this, 

 nearly all of the principal buildings in the 

 Society's gardens have been rebuilt during 

 the past thirty-five years and fitted up with 

 every sort of modern convenience for ani- 

 mals. The old office building (ISTo. 11 Han- 

 over square) has been sold and a larger and 

 more convenient one (l^o. 3 Hanover 

 square) bought in the same vicinity. A 

 debt of £12,000 to the Society's bankers, 

 originally secured upon its house, has been 

 paid off", and this property is now the prop- 

 erty of the Society without any sort of 

 incumbrance. 



The first floor of the Society's house is 

 devoted to the accommodation of a large and 

 very valuable zoological library, under the 

 care of a librarian and his assistant, and is 

 the constant resort of the working zoologists 

 of the metropolis. This library has been 

 almost entirely accumulated since 1859. 



The publications of the Society, consist- 

 ing of Proceedings, Transactions, Lists of 

 Animals (of which eight editions have been 

 published), the ' Garden Guide' and ' Zoo- 

 logical Eecord,' are all issued from this office, 

 with almost unfailing regularity. The 

 scientific meetings of the Society are held 



here during the eight months of the scien- 

 tific session, and an abstract of their pro- 

 ceedings is always printed and issued within 

 a week after each meeting has taken place. 



Mr. Sclater was selected by the British 

 Ornithologists' Union as the first editor of 

 The Ibis, in 1859. He finished the first 

 series in 1864. Professor Newton took his 

 place as editor of the second series, and Mr. 

 Salvin as editor of the third. In 1877 he 

 was associated with Mr. Salvin as joint 

 editor of the fourth series, and in 1883 com- 

 menced the editorship of the fifth series, 

 with Mr. Howard Saunders as coeditor. 

 When the fifth series was completed, in* 

 1888, he became sole editor of the sixth, 

 which he finished in 1894. In 1895, having 

 again obtained the assistance of Mr. Howard 

 Saunders, he commenced work on the 

 seventh series, of which two volumes are 

 already complete. 



When the British Ornithologists' Club 

 was established, in 1892, he joined heartily 

 in the movement inaugurated by Dr. K. 

 Bowdler Sharpe, and has usually had the 

 honor of occupying the chair at its meetings 

 and of delivering an inaugural address at 

 the commencement of each session. 



With the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science he has had a long 

 connection, having become a member in 

 1847 at the second Oxford meeting, and 

 having attended its meetings with few ex- 

 ceptions ever since. For several years he 

 was secretary of Section D, and at the 

 Bristol meeting in 1875 he was president of 

 that section and delivered an address ' On 

 the Present State of our Knowledge of 

 Geographical Zoology.' In 1876 he was 

 elected one of the two general secretaries 

 of the Association, together with Sir Douglas 

 Galton, and served in that capacity for five 

 years, thereby becoming an ex officio member 

 of the Council, at the meetings of which he 

 is a constant attendant. 



Ever since the scientific journal Nature 



