OPENING ADDRESS. 5 



The living collection was never in a more flourishing 

 condition than at its dispersion : long cherished plans 

 were yielding their result, and the extension of steam to 

 mercantile shipping was beginning greatly to facilitate the 

 transport of living specimens from India and the Cape, 

 and would in a very few years have greatly added to the 

 collections. As it was it seemed a pity to disperse what 

 had been gathered together at so much labour and cost. 

 But it was the wisest course ; to let it droop and gradually 

 die away would have been melancholy in the extreme, 

 whereas the living collection, then in its prime, was a 

 memory to all who were familiar with it. Alas ! now 

 but few. 



Its richness may be gathered from the following sum- 

 mary appended to the Catalogue, which will be given more 

 in detail further on after some particulars as to how the 

 Collection had been got together. 







Of which are 

 Knowsley-Bred. 





Species. 



Individuals. 



I 

 Species. Individuals. 



Total number of Mammalia 



Total number of Birds, exclusive of Poultry 



94 

 318 



345 

 1272 



39 

 45 



207 

 549 



Total 



412 



1617 



84 



756 



At the time of his death, Lord Derby was in correspon- 

 dence with some 30 agents in the Old World and the 

 New. 



He had sent out an Expedition consisting of Mr. Burke 

 and two other men from Knowsley Gardens to South 

 Africa, and supported them there for three years collecting 

 plants and animals. He sent Mr. Whitfield, a retired 

 Surgeon, annually for many years in succession to the 



