--When Mr. H. S. Swarth was work- ing at the British Museum last year I showed him some information on James Hep- burn and he suggested that I should send a note to the Condor to supplement the information he had published (Condor, xxvxu, 1926, p. 249). James Hepburn or, to give his full name, James Edward Hepburn, appears to have dropped his second name after going to Cambridge. He was born in London in 1810 or 1811, and was the eldest son of James Hepburn of Tovil Place, Maidstone, England. He was educated privately in Sussex and, at the age of nineteen, was admitted a Pensioner of Trinity College, Cambridge, on December 20, 1830, taking his B.A. in 1835 and M.A. in 1838. In 1835 he left Cambridge and went to London to study law and was admitted a student of the Inner Temple on January 15 of that year and, seven years later, .on April 24, 1842, was called to the Bar. When he emigrated to California I have not been able to discover, but the earliest date mentioned in his American note books is 1852. On April 16, 1869, Hepburn died suddenly at Victoria, Vancouver Island. In his will he is described as of "Tovil Place, Maidstone", but later of "California" and "Victoria, Vancouver". His collections were not mentioned in his will, but his relations, know- ing that he had expressed a wish that they should go to Cambridge, presented them to the University in October, 1870. Dr. J. W. Clarke, the Superintendent of the University Zoological Museum, in his report to the Museums and Lecture Rooms Syndicate dated February 8, 1871, described the collections as follows. "In the course of last October term the Zoological Collections of the late James Hepburn Esq., were presented to the above Museum. This donation is of such im- portance that I feel it my duty to address to you a speCial Report on the Subject. "Mr. Hepburn, originally a member of St. John's College , passed a great part of his life at San Francisco, where he made extensive collections, illustrative of the fauna of the Pacific seaboard from Alaska to Panama, and especially of Van- couver's Island, California and Sitka Sound .... "Mr. Hepburn, having devoted most of his time to the study of Ornithology, it was to be expected that Birds would be best represented in his Collection. There are over 1500 skins, all in excellent condition, representing about 330 species, of most of which the series is extremely good, having, to all appearances, been selected to show the differences caused by sex, age, season or locality, particulars as to these points being carefully recorded in a MS. catalogue. They have been carefully examined, determined, and ticketed by M. Jules Verreaux, Aide-Naturaliste of the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, and a Systematic Catalogue of the whole is in the course of preparation by Professor Newton. They are accompanied by a largo collection of eggs and nests carefully identified and authenticated. "Of mammals there is a small series, chiefly of skins, with two complete skeletons of the Northern Fur Seal (C/ork{s rss). These are of very great value, being so far as I know, the first skeletons of this seal that have been acqu,red by any European Museum. "Of Reptiles, Amphibia, and Fish, there is a considerable number preserved in spirit. "Of Invertebrata, there is a very large collection, consisting of Mol]usca in spirit, shells, crnstacea, and insects. The shells are all carefully marked with their names and localities, each species, of which there is often a long series, having generally a box devoted to itself. It has been impossible at present to estimate fully the extent of this portion of the Collection; but it certainly consists of many hundreds of species, selected, like the birds, under various conditions of age and locality. 'There is also a very intoresting series of 28 skulls of Indians and a great quantity of arms, vessels, idols, and the like, illustrative of the habits of the Aborigines .... "Besides the above Zoological Co]]ectioas there is a small but important series of minerals, chiefly illustrating go]d, and rocks in which it is deposited. There are a]se a few fossils. Mr. Hepburn's specimens have reached us in the most admirable condition and order, notwithstanding his sudden death, which, in the case of a ]ess methodical naturalist, would have caused his collection te be left in a state of confusion." I have given rather long extracts from Dr. C]arke's report, some of which does nQt pertain to ornithology, but with the object of showing the wide interests and carefulness of Hepburn in regard to natural history. In addition te the collections there are a number of note books at Cambridge in which 'Hepburn recorded the specimens he collected. Five of these books are devoted to birds, one to eggs and one te mammals. From the first of these note books it appears Hepburn shot his first bird in California at Martinez on May 6, 1852, and that he remained in San Francisco, visiting various localities, till the autumn of 1860, when he went to Van- couver Island, from where he made trips to the main]and, including Vgashington Territory and Sitka. He returned to San Francisco for short periods in 1861, '63, '64 and 65, but after 1860 his home seems to have been Vancouver Island. Hepburn apparently was assisted by several people in making his col]ecMon and at the end of each year he gives a summary of the additions and how they were obtained. The results for the year 1853, for instance, are given as follows. "Shot 70, by Vg. Rhodham 13, by J. Scar]e 3, by J. Artwood 2, by (. Meridth 2, by Aitken 1, found shot 1, new species 38". From the note books I make out that the collection of bird skins was made up of 1016 from California, 353 from British Columbia, 136 from Vgashington Terri- tory, 5 from Sitka; total, 1510. According to the egg note book Hepburn sent speci- mens to the Smithsenian Institution and H. E. Dresser. Hepburn also sent bird This was a mistake by Dr. Clarke for Trinity which as I have shown above was Hepburn's College. skins to Sir William Jardine, and according to the ]atter's Catalogue he received at different times some forty-seven, most of which came from California.--N. B. KINNEAR, British Museum Natural History, London, April œ4, 1931.