36 Asiatic Society. [No. 109. 



'6th. We refer here especially to the public letter of Dr. J. W. Helper to 

 Mr. Secretary Prinsep, dated Calcutta 16th October 1838, and to a letter from Mr. 

 Secretary Prinsep, dated Fort William, 24th October 1838, to the Secretary of the 

 Asiatic Society, and to the proceedings of the Asiatic Society of the 5th September, 

 10th October, and 14th November 1838, published in the Journal of the said Society, 

 also respecting collections made during Captain Pemberton's Mission to Bootan, 

 &c. Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of 7th February 1838, Journal p. 90 to 168, 

 5th September 1838, p. 749. 



'7th. It is quite apparent that the detention of subjects of Natural History, in the 

 state in which they are usually brought from Missions or Deputations, the movements 

 of which are necessarily expeditious, must in the climate of India be highly injurious 

 to them, and may in many cases occasion their entire destruction ; we notice this parti- 

 cularly with reference to the collections made by Dr. Helfer in Tenasserim, and 

 by Captain Pemberton during his Mission to Bootan, since both these are new 

 localities from which no specimens are as yet contained in our Museum. 



' 8th. In order therefore to guard in future against similar detentions, and to secure an 

 early dispatch of any collections made on behalf of Government to our Museum, we 

 should wish you to require every naturalist or officer who may accompany any 

 Mission or Deputation on behalf of Government, to make at least a pro-visional report on 

 the nature and extent of his collections immediately on the return of the Mission, to 

 be forwarded to us without delay ; further, that whenever practicable, the same officer 

 who accompanied a Mission be instructed on the arrival of his collections to select from 

 his labors the most full and complete series for despatch to England for the Company's 

 Museum by the earliest opportunity, and also to superintend in person the packing 

 and despatch, in order to secure as far as possible the safety of the same during 

 the voyage. In cases in which the collections may have been forwarded to the 

 Presidency before the return of the naturalist by whom they have been made, and when 

 any length of time may be expected to intervene before he can make a selection him- 

 self, we are of opinion that it may be expected of the Asiatic Society to make such 

 a selection as is above intimated, and to prepare the same for despatch to England. 



'9th. While these instructions apply chiefly to such collections as may be made in 

 future on account of Government, we are likewise desirous that the necessary steps 

 may be taken towards the immediate dispatch to our Museum of a series of the Mam- 

 malia and Birds collected by Dr. Helfer in Tenasserim, as far as his collections 

 may have been preserved from the destructive effects of the climate, and of such sub- 

 jects as may be new to science we desire the supply of several individuals ; at the same 

 time we direct that the entire of Dr. Helfer's Entomological collection may be for- 

 warded to us, since from the locality which he visited, many valuable and interesting 

 subjects may be expected in this department particularly ; and since no copy of Dr. 

 Helfer's list of his Ornithological collections, which according to a letter from Mr. 

 Secretary Prinsep, dated Fort William 24th October 1838, was forwarded to the 

 Secretary of the Asiatic Society, has been found in our records, we direct that this list 

 be transmitted to us with all possible expedition. The directions which we have now 

 given respecting Dr. Helfer's collections in Tenasserim, apply also to such collec- 

 tions in Zoology as may have been "made during Captain Pemberton's Mission on 

 account of Government to Bootan. 



