1841.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society ', Sfc. 1G7 



Report, it was resolved that a communication be made to that Officer for 

 furnishing one. 



The Secretary reports the receipt of a letter dated the 20th April last, 

 from Lieut. W. I. E. Boys of the 6th Light Cavalry, offering a large collec- 

 tion of objects of Natural History, ' which in making had occupied almost 

 his sole attention for the last seven years.' 



1 The Collection,' writes Lieut. "Boys, ' has been made and the objects 

 prepared only by myself, and I believe myself warranted in saying that 

 nothing superior has ever been made in that line, as no expense has 

 been spared. It consists of upwards of 350 species of Birds, the whole 

 collected within 50 miles of Mhow Malwa, and of upwards of 200 while 

 glass bottles containing every variety of Snakes, Scorpions, Centipedes 

 and other reptiles, together with the fishes of different parts of India, in 

 spirits, a quantity of Alligators and Gavialis, Boas, &c , several species 

 of the River Turtle and Tortoises, and a superb collection of Insects.' 



The whole Lieut. Boys' offers for Rs. 6,000, a sum much below their 

 real value. 



It was resolved that before coming to any final decision on Lieut. 

 Boys' offer, that that O ficer be requested to furnish a descriptive Cata- 

 logue of the collections referred to. 



Read a Letter from Lt. A. Cunningham of Engineers, dated 29th April 

 last, advising the dispatch of coins purchased from him by the Secretary 

 for presentation to the Cabinet of the Asiatic Society. Lt. Cunningham 

 adds, ' I have decided upon publishing as complete a work upon our 

 Indian coins as can be made. It will take some months to complete the 

 plates, but I have already done three of them. The 1st Vol. will contain 

 the coins of the Bactro-Grecian, Indo-Grecian, Indo-Parthian, and Indo- 

 Scythian Princes of Bactriana, Ariana and the Punjab. It will contain 

 20 Plates and about 150 pages of letter press, or perhaps 200 pages, and 

 will I hope be ready by the 1st January next. The title of the work 

 will be ' Coins of Alexander's successors in the East.' 

 In another letter that Officer also writes: — 



1 I have just read the only one of all my Kashmeerian coins which had 

 hitherto baffled me. Sri Forama (na). Now Toramana was the Zuvaraja 

 (or Ceesar) in A.D. 450, and was imprisoned by his elder brother (the 

 Augustus) for coining money in his own name ; and here we have the 

 identical coins that caused Toram&na's imprisonment and also a decided 

 proof of the truth of the Kashmeerian history. 1 have the coins of 14 

 Rajahs, and of six Moosulman Kings, making a series of 20 Kings, the 

 most numerous of any Indian sovereignty that has yet been discovered.' 



