412 
■who is dying. I could not therefore get at them to make descrip- 
tions, were I competent ; but, in truth I am not ; for I must set 
you right witli regard to my being an ornithologist, by owning that 
I have no further knowledge on the subject than a general love of 
Natural History has given me : specimens of Birds I have none. 
I am, Dear Sir, 
Your very faithful servant 
Dawson Turner 
Yarmouth 19 th July 1831 
P. J. Selby Esq. 
Twizell House, Northumberland 
XI. 
Dear Sir 
I have a great many apologies to make to you, 
that, having been prevented by indisposition from attending the 
meeting of the Committee of the Norwich Museum in August, it 
was but yesterday I was able to procure the drawing of the Anas 
Stelleri. This I received only as a loan ; & I must therefore beg 
the favor of you to return it when done with. At the same time, 
my friend, Mr Griffin,* sent me for your acceptance drawings of the 
Ardca comata & Sterna Caspia , both shot near Yarmouth. All 
the 3 therefore I have consigned to one of the masters of our 
coalships, addressed to the care of Mr Hewitson ; & I shall be glad 
# Richard Griffin was born at Norwich in 1806, and, entering the medical 
profession, became house-surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. 
Having a strong taste for natural history and especially for ornithology he 
planned an extensive work on British birds, from the publication of which 
he was dissuaded by Dawson Turner on account of its expense. As Secretary 
for nine years to the Norfolk and Norwich Museum, he greatly extended its 
resources and collections. In 1831 he contributed to the Royal Society a 
paper describing the mammary glands of the Ornithorhxjnchus thereby 
anticipating the researches of Prof. Owen, who is usually regarded as their 
first discoverer. lie also published his rough-notes of this paper in The 
Lancet for July 18th, 1846, p. 79, which were followed by Editorial remarks 
upon it at pp. 105 and 162, and a letter by Professor Owen at p. 135. In 1841 
he retired to Weymouth, where he died in 1869. A memoir of him is con- 
tained in The Lancet, 20tli Nov. of that year. 
