Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



Joseph Leidy, John le Conte, and other well-known naturalists, returning 

 to England about the end of the year. 



He now took up his residence in London, continuing his studies in natural 

 history and also practising at the Bar. He was a constant attendant at the 

 meetings of the Zoological Society of London, of which he had been previously 

 elected a Fellow, and in 1857 became a Member of the Council. In 1859 

 Sclater, in company with his friend E. C. Taylor, made an expedition to Tunis, 

 visiting the breeding places of the vultures, eagles, and other Eaptores and 

 making considerable collections. 



About this time Mr. D. W. Mitchell, who had been Secretary to 

 the Zoological Society, was appointed to superintend the new Jardin 

 d'Acclimatation in Paris ; thus the post became vacant, and Owen and Yarrell, 

 influential members of the Council, induced Sclater to apply for it, and at the 

 Anniversary Meeting in 1859 he was unanimously elected. On his appoint- 

 ment he found that a considerable re- organisation of the Society's affairs was 

 necessary, the ' Proceedings ' and ' Transactions ' were sadly in arrear, and 

 the gardens themselves were much neglected. He at once set to work to 

 reform these matters, and as a result the prosperity of the Society vastly 

 increased. The number of Eellows was augmented from about 1700 in 1859 

 to above 3000 when he resigned his post in 1902, and, similarly, the income 

 rose in the same period from £14,000 to £30,000 and both the buildings in the 

 Gardens and the offices in Hanover Square were replaced by much more 

 suitable and commodious structures, the library also received great attention 

 and now became an important feature of the Society. From 1874 to 1876 he 

 became private secretary to his brother (then the Right Honourable Sclater- 

 Booth, M.P., and afterwards Lord Basing), when he was President of the 

 Local Government Board in Mr. Disraeli's Administration. 



The British Ornithologists' Union was established in 1858 for the study of 

 general ornithology and Sclater was invited to become Editor to the first 

 series of its quarterly journal, ' The Ibis.' Volume I appeared in 1859, and 

 the first series was completed in 1865. The next six volumes were edited by 

 Prof. A. Newton, and the third series by Osbert Salvin. Erom 1877 Sclater 

 again became Editor, either alone or in company with a partner, till the end 

 of the ninth series in 1912, and during this time he contributed many valuable 

 papers to the Journal. In 1908, on the occasion of the Jubilee, Sclater, 

 together with the three other surviving founders, F. D. Godman (President), 

 W. H. Hudleston, and P. S. Godman, received the gold medal of the Society. 



With the British Association for the Advancement of Science he had a 

 long connection, and attended many of the meetings after he became a 

 member in 1847, including the visit to Montreal in 1884 and South Africa 

 in 1905, For several years he was Secretary of Section D, and at the 

 Bristol meeting in 1875 was its President, and delivered an address on 

 " The State of our Knowledge of Zoological Geography," a subject which had 

 hitherto been much neglected. In geography he took a special interest ; he 

 became a life member of the Geographical Society, and was a constant 



