entirely barred: 12 inches long by 18 between the wings: bill 2, tail 2 tarsus 14: central toe 14: hind: weight 7 oz.

Remarks. This interesting species forms by its size, its manners, and some points of its structure, a link between the genera Scolopax and Gallinago, but deviates from both towards Rhynchoa, by the feebleness of its soft, bowed and subgradated wings, which have the 2nd quill longest. I have set it down in my note book, as the type of a new genus or subgenus, under the style of Nemoricola Nipalensis, but I forbear, for the present, from so naming it. Its general structure is that of a snipe, but the bill is a woodcock's, and the legs and feet are larger than in Gallinago. It is shy, non-gregarious, avoids the open cultivated country, and is only found in the haunts of the woodcock, with this difference in its manners, as compared with those of Scolopax, that it is averse from the interior of woods. The wings are usually from to 1 inch less than the tail, and the prime and tertial quills are equal. The tarsi differ from those of the common snipe in that the scales, posteally, are broken on the mesial line, whereas they are entire in that bird.

2nd Species, new: Solitaria, nobis.

Large, pale, luteous-legged snipe, with small legs and feet, and tail consisting of 20 plumes, whereof the 10 laterals are hardened and narrow: 12 inches long by 20 in expanse bill 24: tail 3: tarsus 1, central toe 1, hind: weight 61 oz.

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Remarks. The general structure of this bird is perfectly typical, (Gallinago), but it has shorter legs and feet than the ordinary snipe, from which it further differs by the division of the tarsal scales, on the posteal aspect. This is a point of affinity with the last, with which our present species agrees very closely ir. manners; the two conducting one, without a sensible interval, from Scolopax to Gallinago. The trivial name refers to the habits of the species: but the term, in English, is usually applied by our sportsmen to the preceding bird which is found in the Doons and Kaders near the hills, whereas the present species never quits the hills. In our present subject the wing has all the strength and acumination so characteristic of most of its confamiliars. The tail also is firm and of good length. The tail usually exceeds the wings by about half an inch, the tertials being scarcely so long as the primes.

3rd Species, Biclavus, nobis.

Common Indian field snipe, with the lining of the wings perfectly barred, and tail of 24 to 28 feathers, of which the 16 to 20 laterals

are narrowed almost to threads, and very rigid. 11 inches long by 17 wide, and 5 oz. in weight; bill 24: tail 2: tarsus 1: central toe 14, hind .

4th Species, Uniclavus, nobis.

Common Indian field snipe, with the lining of the wings faintly barred, the bill long, and tail of 14 to 16 uniform plumes. 11 inches long by 17 wide*, and 5 ounces in weight: bill 23: tail 2§: tarsus 1 central toe 14, hind.

Remarks. The two last species are the ordinary snipes of the plains and hills: their general structure and aspect are quite typical, but their size is less than that of their European analogue. The differences noted in the two species are permanent, as I have proved by the examination of numberless specimens of both sexes, and in all stages of moult. Both the bill and the tail of Uniclavus are conspicuously longer than those of Biclavus. In characterising these four species of Gallinago, I have chosen purposely to rely on size, proportions, and the structure of the tail-points which I have no doubt will serve to fix my species without reference to colors, in relation to which it may be observed that the uniformity of aspect (except in our Nemoricola, which has the woodcock bars below) is calculated only to confuse those who are referred to it for specifical differences. The expressions dark and pale, in the specific characters of Nemoricola and Solitaria, have careful reference to the average tone and intensity of color in the type of Gallinago.

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In Biclavus, the wings are seldom so much as an inch short of the tail whereas in Uniclavus, they are generally 1 at least. This is caused by the superior length of the tail in the latter: for the wings of both are of equal size, and 5 inches long from the bend of the shoulder to the tip of the longest quill.

The Rev. R. EVEREST, in 1825, killed a bird of this species, 12 inches long and 7 oz in weight!! But monsters are abnormal; and I take occasion to say that all my sizes, weights and proportions in this paper are mean maxima, deduced from numberless trials. I may add, that the sexual defferences are purposely overlooked, having been found to be inappreciably small. The females, however, are the larger; and the males, the deeper toned in color.

VII.-Proceedings of the Asiatic Society.

Wednesday Evening, the 5th July, 1837.

The Hon'ble Sir EDWARD RYAN, President, in the chair.

Mr. J. MUIR, C. S., proposed by Captain CAUTLEY, seconded by the Secretary, at the last meeting, was elected a Member.

The Baron SCHILLING, of Cronstadt, was, upon the favorable report of the Committee of Papers, elected an Honorary Member.

RUSTAMJI' COWASJI', was proposed by Baboo RA'M COMAL SEN, seconded by Sir E. RYAN.

Baboo SUTT CHURN GHOSAL, proposed by the Secretary, seconded by Mr. HARE.

Captain BOGLE, proposed by Mr. WALTERS, seconded by Captain Pɛм

BERTON.

Read a letter from Dr. J. SWINEY, acknowledging his election as a Member.

Read the following correspondence regarding the museum, consequent upon the resolution of the last meeting.

Governor General of India in Council.

To the Right Honorable GEORGE, Lord AUCKLAND, &c. &c. &c. MY LORD,

I have been requested by the Asiatic Society to become the organ of a respectful representation to your Lordship in Council on a topic of great importance to the interests of the Society, which was made the subject of a Resolution passed at a general meeting held on the 7th instant.

I have now accordingly the honor to submit a copy of that Resolution, and with every deference and respect to solicit for the prayer of it, the most favorable consideration of your Lordship's Government.

The Asiatic Society has been in existence for more than half a century. Founded by the illustrious Sir WILLIAM JONES, with the concurrence and support of the no less illustrious WARREN HASTINGS, it has uniformly enjoyed the countenance and protection of the high officers placed at the head of the Indian administration, many of whom have joined in its objects with more than the formal interest of nominal patrons, and have contributed individually to its records of literature, or to its collection of antiquities and of curious natural productions.

It would be quite superfluous to enumerate, in addressing the Society's official patron, the many eminent men whose names have adorned and still adorn its list of members, or to recal the services they have severally rendered to science and to literature; but it is by no means to these alone that the Institution owes its efficiency, its stability, and its reputation. Without the co-operation of the many, the talents and abstract studies of the few would have been comparatively ineffectual; and the learned world in many cases would have been deprived of the chief benefit of their studies and knowledge but for the combination which is so necessary to effect undertakings of magnitude and expence, and for the stimulus which emulation, and publicity, and a common interest never fail to excite.

Since its foundation the Asiatic Society has expended more than three lakhs of rupees upon the prosecution and publication of its Reseaches in the languages, the philosophy, the history, the geography, physical, and statistical of India; and there is no branch of useful knowledge connected with this country that has not received illustration through the judicious employment of its funds.

On one or two occasions the Society has received handsome donations from individuals, but it has never yet solicited or received public aid from the Government of the country. In venturing therefore to propose a measure for which there was no precedent in its history, the Committee of papers, with whom the suggestion originated, deemed it incumbent on them to shew the Society at large the grounds upon which they rested their recommendation: and the substance of the arguments they then used I am now requested by the Society to lay before your Lordship in Council.

It is not from a declining Society that an appeal is made, to save it from impending ruin or to enable it to support its expences on the same scale of efficiency as heretofore. On the contrary, the Society never had a more flourishing list of contributing Members, nor was it ever more actively engaged on the multiplied objects of its attention. Indeed it would be difficult to mention any department in which its duties have not materially increased within the last few years.

By the transfer of the Oriental publications from the Education Committee a very important and responsible task has been thrown upon the Society, which it is most anxious to perform with diligence and satisfaction to the increasing body of Oriental scholars in Europe, who have expressed a common feeling and interest in its efficiency and permanancy.

By the transfer of the Oriental manuscripts and printed volumes from the College of Fort William the Society's library has been doubled, and the charge and responsibility of its management proportionately increased. The Society cannot be insensible of the obligation of making known its contents, of encouraging and providing accommodation for copyists, and of guarding property of increasing value. Thus the extension of the library has been attended with consequences which are felt in various matters of detail that cannot well be described.

Literary publications have also sought the Society's auspices in greater number of late than heretofore; and the government has paid it the compliment of seeking its advice and of following its suggestions in respect to many literary undertakings for which the public patronage had been solicited.

The government of France has condescended to employ the Society as the medium for procuring additions to the superb Oriental library of the French nation, and many distinguished Orientalists of the Continent have solicited the same favor.

From all these sources the responsibility, the substantive existence of the Society' has derived strength and lustre ; but every enlargement of its connections and every new field of its operations cannot but call for some additional expenditure or point ont some desideratum which the Society's means are unable to provide; and this must be always more prominently felt where, from all the officers of the institution affording their services gratuitously, there is a reluctance in imposing new duties or expecting an increased devotion of their limited leisure.

But it is particularly in the physical branch of its labours-a vast field comprehending, according to the emphatic expression of Sir WILLIAM JONES, "whatever is produced by nature within the geographical limits of Asia," that the Asiatic Society feels itself most backward and deficient of means.

The rapid strides that have been made in physical inquiry throughout the world in the present age, have been compassed only by national efforts. By these have the schools of Paris been raised to the perfection of which they now boast, and her mu. seums stored with most instructive and precious collections.

By the combinations of the wealthy, aided by a popular government is England now beginning to rival her. A national museum is indeed throughout Europe become an essential engine of education, instructive alike to the uninformed who admires the wonders of nature through the eye alone, and to the refined student who seeks in these repositories what it would be quite out of his power to procure with his own

means.

The Asiatic Society, or it may be allowable to say the metropolis of British India, has had the germs of a national museum as it were planted in its bosom. As at Paris a new era was opened in the history of its great museum, the Jardin des Plantes, through the discoveries of extinct and wondrous animal forms exhumed from the rocks on which the town was built, and which required all the adjuncts of comparative anatomy for their investigation even by the master-hand of the great CUVIER; so in Calcutta through the munificence of a few individuals and the derelopment of fossil deposits in various parts of India hitherto unsuspected, we have become possessed of the basis of a grand collection, and we have been driven to seek recent specimens to elucidate them. Our desire has been warmly seconded by all who have enjoyed the opportunity of contributing; from China, from New South Wales, from the Cape, and from every quarter of the Honorable Company's possessions, specimens of natural history, of mineralogy, and geology, have flowed in faster than they could be accommodated, and the too little attention they have received has alone prevented similar presentations from being much more numerous; for it is but reasonable to suppose that of the stores continually dispatched to England or the Continent, the Society would have received a larger share, had it done proper honor to what it has received.

In May 1835, the Society resolved to try the experiment of appointing salaried officers to the charge of its museum. For two years economy in other departments has enabled it to maintain this system, and the good effects of the measure are visible to all who visit the rooms. Yet not being able to purchase more than a small portion of the time of a competent naturalist, the benefit has been comparatively limited, and now at the very commencement of the experiment the state of the Society's funds will compel it to withhold further support from its incipient museum unless some fresh source of income be provided.

These then, are the motives that have persuaded the Society of the propriety of an appeal to the Ruling Power:-not to contribute to the ordinary wants and engagements of the institution, but to convert that institution into a public and national concern, by entrusting it with the foundation and superintendence of what has yet to be formed for the instruction of our native fellow subjects, as much as for the furtherance of science,-a public depository of the products of nature in India and the surrounding countries properly preserved, properly arranged, and properly applied. To effect such an object it is indispensable that the services of a professional naturalist of high attainments should be engaged, and that he should have at his command the means of working effectually, and of devoting his whole time to the employment.

What, it may be asked, will be the return to government if the state undertake to supply such an officer? To this question more than one satisfactory answer may readily be given.

The Honorable Company have in Leadenhall Street a very valuable museum supported at considerable expense. To that museum, ours would be a powerful auxiliary. Duplicates of every sort here collected might be set apart for England. Again the local government has scientific expeditions continually employed in exploring the country. Geographical, geodesical, and statistical information is continu ally under collection without any office of record, or officer of analysis, to whom it can be appropriately referred for digestion. Efforts are continually misemployed for want of proper direction, and opportunities are lost for want of proper instructions that may be ever regretted by the scientific world. Again, the means of education in the natural sciences would be improved or rather created by the formation of a museum, the superintendent of which would always be able to devote a portion of his time to demonstrations and lectures, either expected as a part of his duty, or yielding a means of partial reimbursement.

But the Society feels that it is almost unbecoming to suppose that the Government of a great country would ask for reasons to support the present application; for the encouragement given to botanical pursuits by the maintenance of two public gardens at considerable charge, and the sums placed at the disposal of the agricultural and horticultural societies and to similar institutions, are so many evidences that the Government have only to be convinced that the object is one of essential public benefit, or calculated to promote scientific discovery, when the inclination to provide the necessary support will not be wanting. The expenditure that has been bestowed apon the theoretical admeasurement of the earth's surface, for the elaborate determination of which the Honorable Company's Government has been justly held up to the admiration. of the world, is an instance particularly in point. The Society has ever felt that the public grants to those and numerous other objects of a similar nature, have been boons to itself, so far as they have promoted the researches contemplated, in its original foundation; and if on this occasion it fails to impress upon Government the claims of other branches of science and literature, all of which require and will benefit by the establishment of a public museum, the Society will attribute it rather to the weakness of the appeal made on its behalf than to the real weakness of its

cause.

I have only in conclusion, to explain that although the Society in the accompany. ing resolution has ventured to name a specific sum which would probably be sufficient for the objects which it has in view yet the members would leave it entirely to the superior judgment of your Lordship in Council to determine what sum it would be expedient to devote from the public finances towards the general futherance of the Society's objects; should it indeed appear to you that the application which I have been requested to lay before Government, is based on sound and reasonable arguments, and that it merits the consideration and support which I have ventured, as much from my own feelings as from my duty to the Society, to urge in its favor. I have the honor to be, &c. (Signed) EDWARD RYAN, [For a copy of the Resolutions annexed see page 400.] To the Honorable Sir E. RYAN, Knight.

Calcutta, 15th June, 1837.

President.

President of the Asiatic Society.

HONORABLE SIR, The representation submitted by you on behalf of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta has been considered by the Right Honorable the Governor General of India in Council with the attention due to the importance of the objects for which the assistance of Government is solicited, and to the character of the Society and of those who have united in the resolution to make this appeal.