54 ^^^ Irish Naturalist. Jun& 



proportion of the rock, as can be done with the Enghsh 

 Chalk. Mr. Wright discovered that the white material in 

 the interior of the flints of the Chalk is less resistant, and 

 from this new source he worked out an extensive Chalk 

 fauna hitherto unkno^vn, laying the first fruits of his re- 

 searches before the British Association at their meeting in 

 Belfast in 1874.^ He now definitely took up the study of 

 the Foraminifera as his life work, and until failing eyesight 

 compelled him to abandon research at about the age of 

 eighty he never swerved from this allegiance. Both fossil and 

 recent material occupied his attention, at first mainly Irish, 

 but in later years from many parts of the world. Having 

 explored the local Cretaceous rocks, he passed on to the Lias, 

 and to a study of sponge spicules from the chert of the 

 Carboniferous Limestone of Ben Bulben. Then he turned 

 to more recent deposits, and made extensive researches 

 into the microzoa of the Glacial and Post-glacial beds of 

 the North of Ireland. 



Meanwhile, in 1881, under a grant of money from the 

 Ro5'al Irish Academy, in company with F. P. Balkwill, 

 dredging for Foraminifera in the Dublin area had been 

 commenced, with excellent results.^ Other dredgings 

 followed, and when, in 1885, on the inspiration of W. S. 

 Green and Prof. Haddon, the Royal Irish Academy under- 

 took the exploration of the deeper waters off the west coast 

 of Ireland, \^^right's services were immediate^ enlisted. 

 The writer had the privilege of serving as one of the scientific 

 staff on the third of these expeditions, held in 1888, when 

 attention was concentrated on the fauna of the 1,000- 

 fathom line and beyond. On that occasion, as on others, 

 Wright's cheery optimism, his ready adaptability to the 

 rough hfe on a tug-boat in deep water, and his enthusiasm 

 over the difficult work of dredging in such depths were only 

 excelled by the leader himself, W. S. Green. 



In later years he was called on to report on the Fora- 

 minifera of various extra-Irish deposits. He did much 



2 B.A. Report, 1874 Sectoins, pp. 95-96. 



^ F. P. Balkwill and J. Wright : Recent Foraminifera of Dublin and 

 Wicklow. Proc. R. I. Acad. (Science), 2nd ser.. III., pp. 5^5-550 (1880J. 



