BEPOET OF THE COMMITTEE. 155 



The Committee also recommend that a neat mural tablet bo 

 erected in the Entrance Hall of the Museum, bearing the fol- 

 lowing inscription : — 



To THE Memory of the Brotheks 

 ALBANY HANCOCK, bom 24th December, 1806; died 24th October, 1873 ; 



AND 



JOHN HANCOCK, born 24th February, 1808 ; died 11th October, 1890. 



Albany was distinguished for his anatomical researches among 

 the Invertebrata, and received in 1858 the Gold Medal of the 

 Koyal Society for his investigations of the Brachiopoda. 



John was celebrated as an Ornithologist, and for the life-like 

 character he gave to the birds which he preserved. It was 

 through his personal influence that the funds were obtained for 

 the erection of this Building, on the completion of which he 

 presented his Ornithological collection to the Natural History 

 Society. 



The Committee have consulted Mr. R. J. Johnson as to the 

 form of the proposed tablet, and have received a design from 

 that gentleman which he proposes should be executed in coloured 

 marbles. The cost of this tablet will be about £100, and the 

 Committee propose to open a subscription list to defray the cost. 



But, in recommending the erection of this tablet, the Com- 

 mittee are fully aware that these brothers are only the more 

 prominent representatives of an earnest band of self-taught 

 naturalists, of whom were the botanists. Winch and Robertson ; 

 the entomologists, W. C. Hewitson, "Wailes, and Bold; the con- 

 chologists, Fryer, Adamson, and Gribsone, and the retiring, gen- 

 tle, and lovable Joshua Alder, the accomplished friend and joint 

 author with Albany of the N'udibranchiate Mollusca ; and the 

 geologists and mineralogists, Hutton, Charlton, and several 

 others not unknown to the Scientific world, most of whom now 

 rest in peace, and whose works only keep them in memory. 



It should never be forgotten that the one great aim of Mr. 

 John Hancock's later years was to secure a fitting and abiding 

 resting place for his invaluable collections, and he strove earn- 

 estly, even to his last days, to obtain for the Society to whom 



