The late Mr. William Griffith. 297 



and insects. While attached to the army of the Indus, he made, on 

 account of Government, large collections of mammalia and birds, 

 which have been transmitted to the Honourable Court of Directors, 

 and which constitute a valuable addition to the museum at the In- 

 dia House. In mammalogy he collected a considerable number of the 

 smaller animals of Affghanistan, among which are several new to 

 science ; but his ornithological collections are more extensive, having 

 brought together about six hundred specimens, not only from the 

 route of the army, but from several separate excursions to the ranges 

 of mountains north of Cabul. Besides the discovery of a consider- 

 able number of new species, the interest of these collections consists 

 in their affording, perhaps, the most extensive and instructive illus- 

 tration of the geographical distribution of the several species of 

 birds found in India, which has as yet been attempted. 



Mr. Griffith has also been zealous and successful as a collector of 

 the fresh water fishes of India, during his various travels : the im- 

 portance and extent of these is detailed in a paper on the subject, 

 printed in the second volume of the Calcutta Journal of Natural 

 History ; and some of his discoveries in Entomology have been com- 

 municated to the public by the Rev. F. W. Hope, in the eighteenth 

 volume of the Transactions of the Linnsean Society of London. 



He was most especially remarkable for the philosophical spirit in 

 which he invariably prosecuted his researches, and for the patience 

 with which he watched the most minute phenomena which appeared 

 to him connected with the subjects of his investigation. Some of 

 his published papers, especially those on Vegetable Impregnation, 

 and the Progressive Development of Organs, have never been excel- 

 led and rarely equalled. 



The merits of this accomplished naturalist and devoted labourer 

 in the field of scientific discovery, were appreciated and fostered by 

 the noble President of this Society while at the head of the Govern- 

 ment of India, and it is to his Lordship's kindness that the Society 

 are indebted for some of the most interesting parts of the foregoing 

 communication. His loss has also been recently noticed in terms of 

 deep regret by the present Governor- General, Sir Henry Hardinge, 

 in his Excellency's Address at the annual distribution of honors and 

 prizes at the Bengal Medical College. * 



