The Scottish Naturalist. 5 i 



natural history. He graduated in Medicine in 1841, and. very 

 soon went to Madras, in the service of the East India Company. 

 The wider field thus opened to him in his favourite pursuits was 

 eagerly taken advantage of; but he turned his chief attention to 

 the great division of the Mollusca; and this continued to be his 

 favourite study throughout life. He made extensive collections 

 in India, China, Singapore, Malacca, and other localities in the 

 East, during nearly twenty years. A residence of two years at 

 home (1854-56), enabled him to extend his knowledge of the 

 nomenclature and structure of the Mollusca, as well as to become 

 acquainted personally with kindred spirits. Nor were the voyages 

 to and from the East unproductive of results, for he studied the 

 pelagic Mollusca, and published his observations in the Madras 

 Journal on his return to India in 1856. 



He formed a collection of Oriental shells remarkable no less for 

 the excellent representation of the species than for the number of 

 species, and for the rarities contained in it. He also contributed 

 largely to Professor Traill's collection of snakes. On his retire- 

 ment from active service he returned to Scotland, and spent most 

 of his time in St. Andrews, where he found congenial occupation 

 in assisting to enlarge the collections in the University Museum, 

 and in the meetings of the Literary and Philosophical Society, of 

 which he was a vice-president at the time of his death. He passed 

 the greater part of each summer on his island of North Ronald- 

 shay, where he promoted the welfare ot his tenants in every way 

 in his power. He took a great interest in the botany, geology., 

 and antiquities of the Orkney Islands ; and manifested this by 

 successful efforts to acclimatise the New Zealand Flax, several 

 Veronicas, and other plants in North Ronaldshay, and by papers 

 in various journals, such as the Transactions of the Edinburgh 

 Botanical Society, the Edinburgh Antiquarian Society, the St. 

 Andreics Literary and Philosophical Society, &c ; and he was also 

 an occasional contributor to the pages of the Scottish Natural ist. 

 He was in bad health for nearly a year and a half before his death 

 in December. He leaves a widow, and a family of two sons and 

 five daughters. 



