Short Biographical Notice of the late Dr. Johnston. 199 



to suggest subdivisions, but it is clear that we have two distinct 

 types in the genus Hemipedina : Ist, those with two rows of 

 large tubercles, and a wide intertubercular granulated space in 

 the middle of the interambulacral areas; and 2nd, those with 

 four, six, eight or ten rows of nearly equal-sized tubercles in 

 these areas at the equator. 



XX. — Short Biographical Notice of the late Dr. Johnston of 

 Berwick-upon- Tweed. 



Not a twelvemonth has elapsed since our scientific public had 

 to mourn the premature death of one of the most distinguished 

 and amiable of its members. Cut off at an age when most men 

 are but beginning to distinguish themselves, at a period of his 

 life when he might have been expected to have even exceeded 

 his previous admirable performances, and at the moment of his 

 attaining a position in which his talents and kindliness of dispo- 

 sition might have exerted a most beneficial influence upon the 

 rising generation of naturalists, the death of Edward Forbes pro- 

 duced a unanimous feeling of heart-felt regret amongst all who 

 had received profit from his works, or enjoyed the pleasure of 

 his personal acquaintance. 



Scarcely nine months after the remains of Professor Forbes 

 were carried to the tomb, we have again to lament the loss of 

 another of the most distinguished naturalists of our country. 

 Dr. George Johnston of Berwick-upon-Tweed ; and although 

 the light of this eminent man has not been extinguished at its 

 noon, hke that of the late Professor of Natural History at Edin- 

 burgh, he was still so far from the traditionally allotted period 

 of human existence, and his most recent writings showed that 

 the freshness and originality of his mind were so far from being 

 impaired, that none could have anticipated that he was so soon 

 to be taken from amongst us. 



But it is not only as an eminent naturalist that Dr. Johnston 

 has a claim upon the regard of the readers of the ' Annals,' — he 

 possesses another title to their attention : from the first establish- 

 ment of this Journal he was one of its conductors, and to the last 

 moment of his existence he took an active interest in its pro- 

 gress. On this account, therefore, as well as from the interest 

 which must necessarily attach to the history of a man of such 

 great and varied attainments, we cannot allow his death to pass 

 without consecrating a few pages to his memory, by recording 

 the leading events of his quiet but eminently useful life. 



Dr. Johnston was born at Simprin in Berwickshire on the 

 20th of July 1797. His father was a farmer, and was descended 

 from a family, many members of which were w^ell known on the 



