108 Zoology. 



time, it has never been known where Latham obtained the 

 material for describing so many Australian, or, as they were 

 then called, " New Holland," birds. 



In 1902 the Museum acquired from Mr. James Lee, a grand- 

 son of the famous horticulturist of Hammersmith, a large volume 

 of paintings executed for the latter by one of his collectors, 

 Thomas Watling, between 1788 and 1792. These drawings had 

 evidently been shown to Latham, who named most of the birds, 

 and seems to have referred to these pictures as " Mr. Lambert's 

 Drawings." They do not seem, however, to have been Lambert's 

 property at any time. 



The types of Latham's species are, in fact, founded on 

 these drawings of Watling's. 



The collector was sent to New South Wales by Mr. Lee, and 

 some of the illustrations in White's " Journal of a Voyage to 

 N.S. Wales in 1790 " were drawn by Watling, who refers to 

 White in his volume of paintings. Cf. Hist. Coll. Brit. Mus. 

 (N H.), i., p. 52 (Libraries). 



Mr. James Britten, who has examined the series of drawings, 

 has published the following interesting note (Journ. Botany, xl., 

 p. 302 (1902)): "The British Museum has lately acquired a 

 very interesting volume containing drawings in colour of the 

 animals and plants of Australia, made by Thomas Watling in 

 1788-1792. Watling was sent out by James Lee of Hammer- 

 smith (from whose great-grandson, bearing the same names, the 

 collection was purchased), with a view to obtaining material for 

 a book on the natural history of the country. 



" Apart from its contents, the volume is interesting on 

 account of the light which it throws upon an entry on p. 253, 

 vol. i., of Dryander's ' Catalogue of the Banksian Library ' : this 

 runs, ' Volumen foliorum 70, continens figuras animalium et 

 plantarum pictas quas in Nova Cambria prope Port Jackson 

 delineavit Edgar Thomas Dell.' 



" In Banks' copy the last four words are struck out, and a 

 comparison of the volume with the one acquired from Mr. Lee 

 shows that it is the work of the same artist. Watling was 

 acquainted with John White (' Surgeon-General to the Settle- 

 ment '), who sent plants to Smith, and published in 1790 his 

 'Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales'; one or two of 

 Watling's drawings were executed for White. 



"The newly acquired volume contains several views of 

 Sydney which are of great interest." 



