324 Obituary. 



and it was followed by many other reports^ catalogues, and 

 publications on fishes and reptiles, in quick succession, but 

 his claim to the gratitude of ornithologists undoubtedly 

 rests on the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, 

 ■which he initiated and carried through. Except for the last 

 issued — the 26th, the whole of the twenty-seven volumes 

 were brought out under his superintendence and the prefaces 

 signed by him. Another claim to the gratitude not only of 

 ornithologists, but of all zoologists, is that Giiuther was the 

 originator and founder of the ' Zoological Record,' the first 

 six volumes of which (1864-1870) he himself edited. 



Dr. Glinther became a member of the B.O.U. in 1876, and 

 lesigned only in 1910, but he did little direct work in 

 ornithology. He contributed a paper to ^ The Ibis ' in 

 1 865, in which he described as new the form of the Long- 

 tailed Tit inhabiting Asia Minor, now known as y^githalos 

 caudatus tephronotus, and put in a plea for the recognition 

 of Moehring's generic name Orites ior this group. In 'The 

 Ibis' for 1886 (p. 207) he defends his action in having the 

 Golden Orioles in the mounted groups in the Natural History 

 Museum represented with cherries in their bills, and asserts 

 that they devour that fruit in considerable quantities, 

 according to his own observations. One other short paper 

 ('The Ibis,' 1896, p. 411) deals with the curious tubercular 

 pad on the '' heel " of the young Wryneck. 



After his retirement from the Museum, Giinther took up 

 his residence near Kew Gardens, and there devoted a great 

 deal of time to Aviculture. He was very successful in 

 breeding some of the more difficult species, such as the 

 Red-backed Shrike, and contributed a number of articles 

 on this subject to the ' Avicultural Magazine.' Giinther 

 became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1867, and served as 

 a Vice-President in 1875-6, and in 1878 he received one of 

 the gold medals. He was President of the Biological Section 

 of the British Association in 1880, and of the Linnean 

 Society from 1898 to 1901. He became a Fellow of the 

 Zoological Society in 1862 and served on its Council almost 

 continuously from 1868 to 1905, and as Vice-President from 



