Introduction. 



vn 



quarters. The Dutch authorities in Java seem to have about this time made 

 him a very tempting offer. 



The Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1841 and 1842 contain two 

 letters from Blyth, of which one was written on the voyage out to India,* 

 and the other shortly after his arrival, f The latter contained remarks on 

 various species of birds found in India and Europe. Nothing from his pen 

 appears in the Calcutta Journal of Natural History, of which the publication 

 had just commenced when he reached India, and which was brought to a 

 close in 1847. He found time, however, to send home several papers for 

 the Annals of Natural History in 1844-48, as will be seen in the List 

 appended to this Memoir, in which I have endeavoured to collect the 

 titles of all his published writings. 



The unpleasant episode in regard to the publication of the Burnes 

 Zoological drawings with Dr. Lord's notes had occurred before I joined the 

 Society. The materials, which consisted of certain wretched figures by 

 a native artist, and some descriptions of already well-known species, the 

 Afghanistan localities of which were alone new, had been made over to us by 

 the Government before Blyth became our Curator. The lithographer's death 

 had brought the work to a stand, and when inquiry was made in 1844, the 

 notes which weie to furnish the letterpress were not forthcoming. Blyth' s 

 explanation of his share in their disappearance will be found in our Pro- 

 ceedings of October, 18444 T^ 8 was followed by a controversy with Mr. 

 Torrens, § then our Secretary ; and the financial embarrassments of the 

 Society soon afterwards necessitated the abandonment of the publication. Of 

 the fourteen coloured copies of the completed plates, I possess one, and I quite 

 agree with Blyth that their issue would have brought ridicule on the Society. 



The heavy outlay incurred on this undertaking, and on the publication 

 of Cantor's Chusan drawings, was unfortunately the cause, not only of the 

 embarrassments just noticed, but of a temporary estrangement between the 

 Philological and Physical classes of our members. Funds which had been 

 assigned by the Government for furthering Oriental literature had no doubt 

 been appropriated to other objects. Blyth came in for a share of this 

 discontent on the part of the Orientalists, and some Naturalists also com- 

 plained that he was enriching the Mammal and Bird departments of the 

 Museum at the expense of those of the shells, fossils, and insects. The 

 want, too, of a Catalogue of the collections had been long felt, and the 



* P.Z.S. 1841, p. 63. 



% J.B.A.S. xiii. pt. 2, p. 51. 



f idem. 1842, p. 93. 



§ idem. xiv. pt. 2, p. cvi. 



