THE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST 



AND 



(fymttnty fmmial of jftfeiu*. 



OBITUARY NOTICE OF ELKANAH BILLINGS, F.G.S. 



Palaeontologist to the Geological Survey of Canada. * 

 By J. F. Whiteaves. 



The founder of this journal, whose loss we have so recently 

 had to deplore, was the second son of Mr. Bradish Billings, 

 whose farm and dwelling were situated on the east bank of the 

 Rideau River, in the township of Gloucester, some three miles 

 distant from Bytown, or Ottawa as it is now called. About a 

 hundred yards to the south of his residence, Mr. Billings built 

 a bridge across the river, and the circumstance is commemorated 

 by the name still borne by the little village which has recently 

 sprung up around it.f 



Including two who died in their infancy, there were nine chil- 

 dren in all, but of these only two showed any very decided taste 

 for natural history studies, viz. Bradish, the eldest, who died in 

 1872, having previously gained some reputation as a botanist and 

 entomologist, and the subject of the present memoir. In answer 

 to some inquiries as to the early history of the family, the 

 youngest son, Mr. Charles Billings, writes as follows : " My 

 father's maternal ancestors came from Wales and those on his 

 father's side from England : the name Billings is of Saxon origin 



* Altered slightly from a paper read before the Natural History 

 Society of Montreal, on the 27th of November, 1876. 

 | Billings' Bridge. 



Vol. VIII. o No 5. 



