366 



Mr. McClelland's Catalogue 



XLIV. — A List of Mammalia and Birds collected in Assam 

 by John McClelland, Esq., Assistant Surgeon in the service 

 of the East India Company, Bengal Establishment : revised 

 by T. Horsfield, V.P.L.S., &c .*. 



" On the return to Calcutta," says Dr. Horsfield, "of the Deputation 

 sent to Assam for the purpose of investigating the nature of the Tea 

 Plant, Mr. McClelland delivered his collection of Mammalia and 

 Birds, accompanied by a Descriptive Catalogue and drawings of 

 many subjects, to the Bengal Government, to be forwarded to the 

 Court of Directors. These subjects arrived safely in England, and 

 are now, with few exceptions, prepared and exhibited in the Com- 

 pany's Museum at the India House. 



" In his official correspondence with the Bengal Government, Mr. 

 McClelland explains the object he principally had in view in making 

 the collection in the following terms : < Having been invited to offer 

 any suggestion I may have to submit, as to how this portion of my 

 labour may be disposed of with most advantage, I shall, in venturing 

 an opinion, keep in view the objects with which my collections were 

 made : these were, to procure as much information as Upper Assam 

 is calculated to afford, in elucidation of the circumstances under 

 which the Tea Plant is found in that country. 



" ' Next to the relations of the plant in regard to soils, and its as- 

 sociation with other vegetable productions, the zoology of the pro- 

 vince is entitled to careful examination ; so that all its productions 

 may be compared with those of the tea districts of China. 



'"The accompanying Catalogue of animals will be found to display 

 an interesting balance numerically in favour of the extension of spe- 

 cies from the eastward, a point that ought to be carefully examined, 

 as bearing upon the main question ; for in proportion as the Tea 

 Plant is associated in Assam with the prevalence of Chinese forms, 

 the prospect of its successful cultivation becomes the more certain.' 

 — Extract from Mr. McClelland 's letter to the Secretary of the Ben- 

 gal Government. 



" Mr. McClelland then expresses his desire that his Descriptive 

 Catalogue, before publication, should be revised in England, in order 

 to prevent the introduction of mere nominal species, and to conform 

 the nomenclature to the latest discoveries in science. In accordance 

 with this desire, the entire collection has been carefully compared 

 with subjects from India contained in the British Museum and in the 

 Museums of the Zoological Society and the East India Company, as 

 well as with the drawings and descriptions lately published in various 

 zoological works to which Mr. McClelland had no access. 



" The following catalogue now exhibits Mr. McClelland's collec- 

 tion, with those alterations which the progress of discoveries required, 

 and with a partial modification of the arrangement ; and in perform- 

 ing this task the only object has been to secure to Mr. McClelland 



* Communicated by Dr. Horsfield to the Zoological Society of London, 

 Oet. 22, 1839, and extracted from the Proceedings of the Society. 



