SYDNEY NATURALIST

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 47, 19 November 1936, Page 13

SYDNEY NATURALIST

Study of Butterflies in London Dominion Special Service. Auckland, November IS. Looking forward with interest to the meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, to be held in January in Auckland, the honorary general treasurer, Dr. G. A. Waterhouse, Sydney, arrived by the Rangitata from London. After attending a meeting of the British association as delegate from his organisation, Dr. Waterhouse spent some time studying the butterflies of Australia and the South Pacific at the British Museqm. The collection at the Australian Museum, Sydney, which he himself made, is the finest exhibit of Australian butterflies, but historic specimens in England are full of interest to the naturalist. Some fine collections were made by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Waterhouse saw specimens caught by him during Captain Cook’s first voyage over 165 years ago. They were in a good state of preservation. The early French voyagers also brought back many specimens, as all the ships carried naturalists, and some of these butterflies were sent from Paris for inspection. Honorary treasurer of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, a member of the executive of the Australian National Research Council and a trustee of the Australian Museum, Dr. Waterhouse will deliver the presidential address in the zoology section of the meeting in January. He will leave for Australia shortly.