1865.] Zoology and Animal Physiology. 511 



is about to make an expedition into West Tropical Africa, for the 

 purpose of collecting animals, and for geographical discovery. His 

 hunting-ground will be those little-known regions lying within seven 

 or eight degrees on either side of the Equator, where he will specially 

 occupy himself in search after a lake supposed to be there existent. 

 Mr. Walker may be expected to learn something of the gorilla also, 

 which he says is not nearly so rare as represented by M. du Chaillu, 

 being found in the Dahomey country, and in nearly all the country 

 between that and Congo, as well as being common in the Gaboon and 

 Camma country, where it is sometimes found within three or four 

 miles of the sea. The Royal Geographical Society has agreed to 

 furnish Mr. Walker with the necessary instruments. 



The deaths of three eminent Zoologists have been announced 

 during the last quarter. Valenciennes, the celebrated ichthyologist, 

 for many years the collaborateur of Cuvier, and the friend of Hum- 

 boldt, has just succumbed to a long and dangerous illness. William 

 Sharp MacLeay, author of ' Horas Entomologies,' also died at Mel- 

 bourne on 25th March last. The speculations of this celebrated work 

 have been pushed to extremes by his successors, under the names of 

 the " circular system," " quinarianism," &c, so that they became 

 by-words, and the work of one of the most thoughtful and original 

 of English biologists sank into the most unmerited neglect. Mr. 

 MacLeay cooperated actively and earnestly with his friend, the late 

 Mr. Vigors, in founding what is now one of the most important and 

 flourishing of our scientific bodies, the Zoological Society of London ; 

 and also largely contributed to the establishment of the Australian 

 Museum of his adopted country. He subsequently published a work 

 called ' Annulosa Javanica,' besides contributing largely to the 

 scientific periodicals ; but since his departure to Australia but little 

 has appeared from his pen. Another eminent Zoologist, and remark- 

 able character, whose death has lately been announced, was Mr. 

 Charles Waterton, of Walton Hall, the author of ' Wanderings in South 

 America.' Mr. Waterton was a simple and earnest naturalist, who 

 has spent more days and weeks and months in the woods than almost 

 any man living, and whose remarkable experiences almost passed the 

 bounds of credit — a circumstance which led to expressions from his 

 reviewers which hurt him greatly. A devoted lover of animals, he 

 formed his park at Walton Hall, near Wakefield, into a perfect para- 

 dise for birds and quadrupeds, who were all strictly protected ; and 

 his remarkable success in preserving them after death, of illustrations 

 of which his house was well filled, rendered a visit to Walton Hall 

 one of the greatest interest to the lover of Nature. Added to this, the 

 simple and original character of the aged host was itself a study. Mr. 

 Waterton was a stanch Catholic, and was upwards of eighty years of 

 age, hale and hearty. An accidental fall, however, from a rustic 

 bridge in his grounds, produced injuries from which he did not 

 recover. 



