HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



5i 



Joseph (then Dr.) Hooker, of representatives of 

 English science at the Botanical Congress at St. 

 Petersburg. In acknowledgment of the service 

 rendered on this occasion, he was presented by the 

 Emperor Alexander with a splendid malachite table. 

 During his absence from England at this time, he 

 paid considerable attention to the subject of Conti- 

 nental forestry, and every facility was given him in 

 his inquiries in Belgium by the Belgian Government. 

 In 1 87 1 he undertook the laborious task of superin- 

 tending much of the selection or arrangement of the 

 English exhibits at the Polytechnic Exhibition at 

 Moscow in the following year. In botanical science, 

 Mr. Murray's work lay principally among the 

 Conifene, having written a small book on the " Pines 

 and Firs of Japan," and contributed numerous papers 

 on the same group of plants to different scientific and 

 horticultural journals. He was secretary to the 

 Oregon Committee, who sent out a collector to Oregon 

 and California to collect Coniferse, and in 1873 he 

 undertook an expedition to Salt Lake and California, 

 partly with a scientific object, and partly with a view 

 to investigate the working of the silver-mines. In 

 the course of his mining investigations he was ex- 

 posed to considerable danger, minute inquiries mak- 

 ing him obnoxious to some of the parties concerned. 



In his entomological career, the great point was 

 the devotion of the last ten years of his life to the 

 subject in its practical bearings. As a monument of 

 his skill and profound knowledge on this point, the 

 results stand in the Government collection of econo- 

 mic entomology at Bethnal Green. The charge of 

 receiving and arranging the contributions to this 

 collection was placed in his hands officially in 1868, 

 and from thenceforward he may be said to have 

 given himself up to the task unceasingly, down to his 

 latest hours ; for, during his American expedition, 

 he left behind him the threads by which the collec- 

 tion might be proceeded with in his absence. 



Of the patient labour and scientific research he dis- 

 played in this collection it is impossible to speak too 

 highly. Under his guidance the life-histories of the 

 insects (of which knowledge was required to ascertain 

 their remedies) were, in some cases, worked out, 

 in others verified and amplified ; remedies were 

 ascertained and experiments initiated ; and the whole 

 life-history was shown at once correctly, scientifically, 

 and as clearly as possible to the popular eye by 

 illustrations of the insect in its various stages, and the 

 object injured, accompanied by drawings and, when 

 possible, facsimile models. Mr. Murray was an 

 accomplished draughtsman, and a large number of 

 the insect drawings are his own work, in all cases 

 clearly executed, and many, especially those of the 

 Coleopterre, really works of art. On this collection 

 he was working up to his latest days, having, we 

 believe, a quantity of material in progress of arrange- 

 ment. It is much to be regretted that his descriptive 

 catalogue of the collection should not have progressed 



beyond the first volume devoted to the Aptera, 

 which was to have been followed, as we learn from 

 an introductory note, by a complete series. The 

 compilation of such handbooks is a work requiring 

 great knowledge of the subject, as well as familiarity 

 with writings of previous observers, and the head and 

 hand which formed the collection could best give us 

 the description which utilizes it for general reference. 



Mr. Murray contributed valuable papers of original 

 observation both to home and foreign scientific 

 societies and serials, and amongst his larger works, his 

 volume on the " Distribution of Mammals " is one of 

 very great value, with regard to the representation of 

 families, both prehistoric and present, and also for 

 its synonymic lists and tables. 



It is said that Mr. Murray's health suffered much 

 during his American tour, but that the immediate 

 cause of the unfavourable change was due to the 

 amount of chloroform inhaled whilst rearranging a 

 portion of the Doubleday collection infested with 

 Mites. He was not in strong health at the time, but 

 continued at his post from day to day, trusting that 

 after effects might wear away ; his general health, 

 however, sank from that time, and all who had the 

 privilege of knowing him will feel that by the death 

 of Andrew Murray they lost a true-hearted and loyal 

 friend, as well as a gifted naturalist. J. R. J. 



ON SOME RECENT FORAMINIFERA FROM 

 THE SHETLAND ISLES. 



S 



By George Robert Vine, Jun. 



OME time ago my father gave me a small 

 packet of dredgings that he had received from 

 Mr. Lovett, Holly Mount, Croydon. The dredgings 

 consisted of minute particles of broken shells, 

 quartz, &c, but especially of Foraminifera. These I 

 worked out, and the following is a list of the species 

 obtained. 



Globigerina bulloides, D'Orb., both in the young and 

 mature state, were very plentiful ; Rotalia Beccarii, 

 Linne, Very small, but showing the character of the 

 genus well; Rotalia oi'bicularis , D'Orb., and varieties, 

 small, transparent, and perfect, common ; Planorbu- 

 lina [Truncatulina) lobatula, Walker and Jacob, very 

 common in Dog's Bay, &c, but only 8 or 9 speci- 

 mens here represented the genus, and all these were 

 not very distinct in the septa and foramen, but distinct 

 enough to identify the species ; Operculina ammono- 

 ides, Gronovius. This is a species hat can hardly te 

 mistaken for another, being ammonite-like (as the 

 name implies), with the septa distinct and double 

 (see fig. 31); small and middle size, rare; Pulvimdina 

 Micheliniana, D'Orb. (see fig. 28). This is a peculiar 

 species : it has three different views ; the front is raised 

 very much, with the septa rather wide apart ; the 

 bottom is flat, with two convolutions showing the 



primordial, and the side view is bell-shaped; middle 



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