Anniversary Meeting of the Zoological Club* 2 1 1 



new to science, were shortly afterwards noticed by me in the 

 Zoological Journal: and a detailed description of the whole col- 

 lection, accompanied with some anatomical and physiological 

 notices by the naturalists of the expedition, together with 

 figures of the new or rarer species, is in preparation. And 

 here I cannot pass over a fact which affords an auspicious 

 omen to the well-wishers of zoology. The work which will 

 include the natural history of this expedition is coming out 

 under the immediate patronage of our government, who have 

 advanced a liberal sum for defraying the .expense of the illus- 

 trative plates. The same liberality has been evinced in the 

 case of the work lately published by Dr. Richardson, to which 

 I have already drawn your attention. These are tidings which 

 cannot fail to interest us. The expense of suitable engravings 

 for such works is well known to be so great as to deter any 

 author or publisher from venturing on what must prove to 

 him a decided sacrifice ; and it is only by its being met by the 

 liberality of government, or of some great institution, that an 

 object so essential to the interests of zoology, as faithful re- 

 presentations of the subjects described, can be attained. The 

 same munificence of spirit may be noticed in the Directors of 

 the East India Company. This patronage alone has enabled 

 the scientific world to profit by such works as Dr. Horsfield 

 has produced on the zoology of Java. 



I have here also to announce the arrival, in this country, 

 of a very valuable collection of birds, formed in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Straits of Magellan, by our gallant and accom- 

 plished friend Captain Phillip Parker King. I have had the 

 pleasure of exhibiting to you, at some of our former meetings, 

 the very interesting collection which he sent to this country, 

 as the results of his first voyage to those Straits, and which 

 was described in the Zoological Journal, by extracts from his 

 letters. The present collection, which was obligingly en^ 

 trusted to me by the Admiralty for description, contains 

 many fine specimens of the rarer species described in those 

 extracts, together with many additional novelties. I wait only 

 for the return of Captain King to bring out an account of this 

 truly valuable collection. This event, we have every reason 

 to hope, will not be far distant ; and the intervening delay will 

 be fully compensated by the additional value conferred on his 

 acquisitions by the observations which he will be enabled to 

 supply in person. 



From others of the foreign collections which have been for- 

 warded to this country, much important information has been 

 acquired. The noble Sumatran collection, left by Sir Stam- 

 ford Raffles as a monument of his scientific zeal and acumen, 



