OBITUARY. 317 



— and that for good — than is usually associated with purely secretarial 

 responsibilities. The publications of the Society for the long period 

 under his editorship, the growth of the great library, and the success 

 of the Gardens, under old-time regulations, will bear ample witness 

 to his official value and energetic action. 



Dr. Sclater as an ornithologist has also left his mark on that 

 favourite science ; his studies and publications were principally in 

 connection with the Central and South American faunas. He was 

 one of the founders of the British Ornithologists' Union, and the first 

 editor of its journal, ' The Ibis.' Both "Union" and "publication" 

 will cherish his memory. He was conservative on the question of 

 nomenclature, as are many more of us, though the proposed changes 

 are clearly on the rising tide. 



The biological standard of his career, and one that will outlive 

 his faunistic labours, is his great pioneer work in the study of the 

 Geographical Distribution of Animals. The natural divisions he 

 recognized, and the names he gave them we use and write now, and 

 they will be used and written hereafter ; nor can we forget his paper 

 " On the Distribution of Marine Mammalia," which was first printed 

 in this Magazine (1897, p. 217). 



Dr. Sclater, at the Zoological Society, possessed the methods of a 

 business man in the best sense of the word ; his legal training — for 

 he w 7 as called to the Bar and went on the Western Circuit for several 

 years — doubtless gave him the gift of personal analysis among those 

 with whom he was thrown in contact. He could thus identify young 

 men who were really naturalists at heart and by instinct ; these he 

 never failed to help and assist by all means in his knowledge, and 

 he has doubtless promoted many careers. He was not only a 

 zoologist, but was also of a fine manly character, which ensured the 

 respect of those with whom he was associated. His first publication, 

 a " Note on the Water-Bail," was in ' The Zoologist,' and appeared 

 in 1844 ; so that we have probably lost our oldest contributor. 



W. L. D. 



