1865.] Geography. 465 



terior legs, as is otherwise invariably the case, but by the interme- 

 diate, the femora of which are thick, robust, and tolerably elongate, 

 with curved tibiae. It was proposed to be described under the name 

 of Thaumastomerus viridis. Mr. Bates read a paper " On a New Species 

 of Agra, froni the Collection of Mr. W. Wilson Saunders ;" and Mr. 

 F. Smith read " Descriptions of some Species of Hymenopterous 

 Insects belonging to the families Thynnidse, Masaridse, and Apidse." 



In the last part of the Journal, at page 285, it was stated that the 

 number of members of this Society was but ninety-seven. This, 

 however, comprised those only who had paid their subscriptions for 

 the year, not those who had compounded, or who were in arrears. 

 The real number was, at the time, about 140. 



VI. GEOGKAPHY. 



{Including the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society.) 



At one of the latest of the meetings of the Eoyal Geographical 

 Society, an eminent authority on geographical, as well as other 

 scientific matters, spoke with somewhat of nervous excitement, of 

 what he considered the want of attention paid by the scientific men of 

 England to a foreigner, then lying on a sick bed : he spoke of 

 Lieutenant Maury. Within a few days after leaving this learned 

 Society for the sick-bed of his friend, Admiral Fitzroy himself lay 

 stretched upon the bed of death, stricken by a hand no longer guided 

 by the light of that reason which has founded a new science amongst us ; 

 but moved by frenzy, of which the excitability of the former evening 

 had been but the prelude, the flicker as it were of the summer lightning 

 before the storm began. The over-taxed brain broke down amidst its 

 work. That work has become a household word among us. In look- 

 ing for Admiral Fitzroy's forecasts of the weather, we are apt to 

 forget the earlier tributes which he paid to science. In two voyages 

 in the ' Beagle,' in the latter of which he was accompanied by Mr. 

 Darwin, he performed important work in surveying the southern 

 hemisphere, and by describing what he had surveyed, he made per- 

 manent his discoveries. His researches on meteorology have placed 

 that subject on the footing of a science, and whatever discoveries may 

 hereafter be made in this direction, will have to be attributed to the 

 excellent order and arrangement that he has introduced amongst the 

 mass of already well-known facts, and to his patient abstinence from 

 prejudging where the temptation must have been very great. Be- 

 sides this, Admiral Fitzroy was at one time a member of Parliament, 

 and afterwards Governor of New Zealand. 



A younger and a less known man, Henry Christy, had just been recom- 

 mended by the Council of the Royal Society to be honoured with the 

 mystic letters F.R.S. after his name, but death forbad the investiture. 

 Originally in business, he had devoted his later years to travel and scien- 

 tific investigations, chiefly in reference to the early history of mankind 

 as told to us in customs and in antiquities of savage nations. He ex- 



VOL. II. 2 K 



