124 ^^^^ Irish Naturalist, Nov.-Dec, 



for a change of study ; and since 1900 he had been hving 

 close to the sea at Sandycove, where marine hfe offered 

 itself to his attention. But shortly after the publication 

 of the Dublin Flora we find him working hard at the ]\Iarine 

 Mollusca, encouraged and aided by the knowledge which 

 A. R. Nichols freely placed at his disposal. A small 

 aquarium was started, and dredging expeditions, especially 

 in Dalkey Sound and the Malahide estuary, were undertaken, 

 mostly in conjunction with the little band of marine 

 zoologists who formed the " Dublin Marine Biological 

 Association." Special attention was paid to the Nudi- 

 branchs, and many valuable observations on this fascinating 

 group were made and recorded. When the Clare Island 

 Biological Survey was commenced in 1909, Colgan under- 

 took the Mollusca, and also an enquiry into the local Irish 

 names of animals and plants. 



He had joined the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club on its 

 foundation in 1886, and in 1894 had been elected a member 

 of the Royal Irish Academy, but for many years these 

 societies seldom saw him, a certain diffidence restraining 

 him from mingling freely with his fellow-members, or taking 

 an active part in their proceedings. Indeed, so far as I 

 am aware, his first appearance as the reader of a paper at 

 a scientific meeting was when he presented his Clare Island 

 reports to the Academy in 191 1. The jolly parties in whose 

 company he carried out shore-collecting and dredging 

 around that western isle melted the slight shyness which 

 was constitutional with him, and his fellow-workers on those 

 occasions will remember him as the best of good company. 

 About the same time he accepted the Vice-Presidency of 

 the Dublin Field Club — -which he had previously declined 

 more than once— and two years later he became President. 

 When the Cosmos Club, founded for the discussion of 

 scientific problems, was established in 1917, Colgan at once 

 became one of its most active members, and contributed 

 materially to the lively debates which characterized its 

 meetings. 



The list of his writings (other than his many contributions 

 to this Journal) which appears below well expresses the 

 successive phases of his interests. His mind had a strong 



