k 



Zoological Sociely. 225 



seum * ; and I dedicate it to that lady with additional pleasure, as a 

 small testimony of gratitude for the happy hours spent, and the use- 

 ful information collected, under the hospitable roof of the zoologist, 



* The superiority of the Leyden Museum over any other is unquestionable, not 

 perhaps so much on account of its containing a greater number of species than 

 those of London, Paris, Philadelphia and Berlin, but for the freshness and perfec- 

 tion of the specimens, for the quantity of skeletons, and above all for the never- 

 sufRciently-praised series of individuals of the various species of both sexes, in dif- 

 ferent ages, and from different localities and countries, which facilitate one's 

 judgement, and show at once in most cases, especially with Mammalia, what is or 

 is not a good species. For this and many other reasons, a detailed Catalogue of 

 this splendid collection is a necessity of our days. We can hardly conceive how 

 the many treasures accumulated in that National establishment by the indefati- 

 gable zeal of its so well-known director, Temrainck, seconded by M. Schlegel and 

 their subordinates (whose industry may be appreciated in England by those ac- 

 quainted with M. Frank the Amsterdam merchant, so useful to science and 

 naturalists of every country), are still allowed to remain unknown and undescribed; 

 the Museum itself, with its numerous new species, being left uncaialogued, and 

 that in the year 1850! The discoveries made by Dutchmen in far-distant lands, 

 to the peril of their lives, and with their own or their government's capital, are 

 thus daily exposed to be anticipated by other nations, and monopolized by the 

 ever-increasing struggles of English industry ; whilst a scientific Catalogue pub- 

 lished on the plan long since advocated by Professor Is. Geoffroy St. Hilaire for the 

 museum of the great French Nation, that is, with descriptions and figures of all 

 new or not sufficiently-known species, would be an imperishable monument for 

 science and for the Dutch Nation. And the greater benefit have we the right to 

 expect for science from the execution of this noble enterprise, inasmuch as M. 

 Schlegel, who would certainly be the head and arm of the publication, combines 

 the knowledge for which he has long been celebrated all over the world, with the 

 skill of a firstrate draftsman. His paper on Iconography applied to Natural 

 History (Mem. Taylerian Soc. Haarlem), in which beautiful drawings of his own 

 are produced as examples, after he has critically reviewed the standard works of 

 every nation, and while giving sound precepts to artists devoted to our science, 

 ought to be known everywhere, and at least translated into the English language. 

 Under such circumstances, no book on Natural History, we shall never enough 

 repeat it, would prove more effectual to the progress of science, more creditable 

 to the nation, to the government, and to the able individuals willing to accom- 

 plish the labour, than the Catalogue of the Leyden Museum on the enlightened 

 plan above-mentioned, which such a naturalist as Schlegel certainly could not fail 

 to improve in the course of elaboration. 



In order to prove our assertion, it is enough to remark, how much by the de- 

 sired publication would be improved our knowledge of the Malasian fauna, since, 

 of the productions of the island of Gilolo alone, all those collected at the mere 

 landing of the Dutch naturalists, upon a surface of a square mile, proved to be new, 

 and many of them very important additions to science ; to indicate the number of 

 undescribed objects received from Ashantee; and to point out the advantages 

 arising from the facility of placing henceforth beyond the possibility of doubt the 

 existence of remarkable species unaccountably rejected or misplaced, as Gavialis 

 Schlegeli and Testudo emys. But to justify-fully our insisting on these facts, I will 

 select a few animals which I shall have perhaps the honour thus first to introduce 

 to the English naturalist, and these examples I shall take out of each of the different 

 classes, saying of the animals just as much as is necessary to excite, not to satisfy 

 scientific curiosity. Among the new Mammalia, some of which will constitute 

 new genera, I shall choose a third living species of Elephant. 



Elephas sumatranus, Temm., based upon four skeletons which I admired in 

 company with my learned friend and colleague. Prof. Is. Geoffroy St. Hilaire of 

 Paris. This species is perfectly intermediate between the Indian and African, 

 especially in the shape of the skull, and will certainly put an end to the distinc- 

 tion between Elephas and Loxodon with those who admit that anatomical genus; 

 since although tlie crowns of the teeth of E. sumatranm arc more like the Asiitic 



