386 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



OBITUARY. 



William Doherty. 



William Doherty, the well-known zoological collector and 

 traveller, died at Nairobi, East Africa, on May 25th. He was of 

 Irish descent, born, I believe, at Mount Auburn, Cincinnati, 

 U.S.A., where his parents now reside. He appears to have first 

 gained notoriety as a collector in India about 1886, and made 

 several expeditions on behalf of the authorities of the Calcutta 

 Museum. 



In 1888 he travelled through South-east Borneo, and the 

 results of this journey were the first collections he sent to 

 England. The following year he visited the more unexplored 

 parts of South Assam, Manipur, and the Ruby Mines district of 

 Burma, sending to this countr}^ extensive collections from these 

 localities ; thence he worked down through the Malay Peninsula, 

 and on to Sumatra, returning to Calcutta in 1891. 



Early in 1892 he started on a more extended expedition 

 through the Malay Archipelago, visiting Alor, Solor, Sumba, 

 Adonara, Burn, Amboyna, Sumbawa, Timor, Batchian, Sanguir, 

 Talaut (where he discovered a remarkable black species of 

 the genus Ornithopiera, named after him), Ternate, Wetter, 

 Gilolo, Tenimber, and other islands, forming most extensive and 

 valuable collections. He finally proceeded to Humboldt Bay, New 

 Guinea ; and, although this was a most unhealthy place, and he 

 and his trained collectors were constantly suffering from attacks 

 of fever, the richness of the fauna, and the many new discoveries 

 he was making, induced him to prolong his stay, until they were 

 all attacked with " berri-berri," to which they nearly succumbed. 

 Leaving there towards the end of 1893, he found it necessary to 

 return to his home in Cincinnati, where the state of his health 

 compelled him to remain inactive for nearly two years. 



In November, 1895, he was in London, on his way again to 

 the East to explore some of the islands he had not before visited. 



