MELVILL : MEMOIR OF THE LATE HUGH CUMING. 61 
in every way by the Chilian Government, which allowed him to 
anchor in its ports free of charge, and also provided him with 
letters of introduction to the authorities of all the places he 
wished to visit; and consequently every facility was given him, 
and his collections grew apace. 
Two years were spent in explorations along the coasts, from 
Lima southward to the Isle of Chiloe, where he both dredged 
largely and collected shells at half-tide and low water. Here 
the larger forms of Patella, Chiton, and Fissuredla, attain their 
maximum size, and other interesting monotypic forms, such 
as Chorus giganteus and Concholepas peruvianus, delight the 
naturalist. It is calculated Cuming collected nearly 400 species 
during this expedition. He included the Galapagos Islands in 
his researches, at which isolated group he found rir marine 
shells. He did not pay so much attention to the land mollusca 
as Darwin, who visited the group a year or two later in Zhe 
Beagle, and made closer observations regarding its climate, soil, 
and natural productions. 
This voyage completed, Cuming now returned to England 
and thereupon came a turning point in his career. He awoke 
to find himself famous.. In 1831 the Zoological Society came 
into existence, and its opening volumes contain the first descrip- 
tions of new species discovered by this ardent conchologist. 
Mr. W. J. Broderip and Mr. G. B. Sowerby, the elder, mainly 
contributing the systematic and descriptive articles, while Prof. 
R. Owen detailed the anatomy of the more remarkable. 
This brought Mr. Cuming very prominently before the 
scientific world, and it was thought desirable that a man posses- 
sing such unusual qualifications should explore portions of the 
tropical eastern hemisphere in the same way as the western had 
been so successfully traversed, and he, therefore, turned his 
attention to that large, and then almost unknown, group, the 
Philippine Islands, belonging then, as now, to Spain. Through 
the influence of the Earl of Derby, he was provided with letters 
from the authorities at Madrid to the Governor of Manila, and 
