Bristol Zoology of tbe past 50 H?ear6. 
By H. J. Charbonnier. 
IN 1864, the founder and first secretary of the Bristol Naturalists' 
Society, Prof. Leipner, planned a complete mapping out of 
the Bristol District for the purpose of systematically recording all 
the plants and animals occurring therein. For this purpose the 
geological maps of 10 miles round Bristol, published by our first 
President, William Sanders, F.R.S., were used, the maps being 
ruled in one mile squares ; this plan was eventually abandoned and 
the area included in the " district " considerably enlarged. 
The more popular sciences of Botany, Geology, and Entomology 
were the first to receive attention ; and though a Zoological Section 
was formed in 1865, with Dr. H. E. Fripp for president, who 
contributed several valuable papers on Zoology to the Proceedings , 
notably on " Monad Life " in 1870, yet the Zoological Section was 
eventually given up for want of support. 
In 1867 Dr. C. T. Hudson, LL.D., contributed several important 
papers on ' ' Bristol Rotifers, ' ' these were published with illustra- 
tions in the Society's Proceedings. 
In 1S74 Prof. Leipner contributed a list of the "Land and 
Freshwater Mollusca ' ' of the district, for which he had the 
valuable assistance of the Misses Hele and Jellie who had collected 
in the district for many years, 10 1 species, and a large number of 
varieties are recorded in this list. 
The much neglected orders of Fish, Amphibians and Reptiles 
had a list of local species contributed to the Proceedings in 1886, 
by the present writer. 
In 1 888 on the occasion of the British Association's visit to Bath, 
I contributed to a magazine called Scientific News, several articles 
on the Zoology of the Bath District, both Vertebrate and Inverte- 
brate. 
Again, on the occasion of the same Society's visit to Bristol in 
1S9S, Prof. Lloyd Morgan and myself contributed to the "Hand- 
book >} of the district a list, with notes, of 27 species of Fish, 5 
species of Amphibians, and 4 species of Reptiles. 
Coming next to the more popular class of Birds, an excellent 
list of the species occurring in the district was contributed in 1875 
by Mr. Edwin Wheeler, this list dealt with 168 species ; Mr. 
Wheeler had a fine collection of local birds, beautifully mounted 
by himself ; these may still be seen in the Museum of the Clifton 
Zoological Gardens. He also made many beautiful drawings of 
fish, and personally painted some of the specimens in the Bristol 
Museum. 
Many interesting papers on Birds were read at the meetings of 
the Society by Messrs. H. C. Playne and Claude Druitt, both of 
whom have, unfortunately, left the district. 
