l8o Obituary Notice. [isf"jan. 



to proceed to Wellington ; in 1873 he became Provincial 

 Geologist of Otago, and before long, after going to Dunedin, he, 

 in conjunction with the late Professor Ulrich, published a very- 

 important work on the geology of Otago. 



The Captain, however, was not a man of one science only, and, 

 during the time he had been in the colony he had been most 

 consistently working on the zoology of New Zealand. As a 

 result, when the position of Provincial Geologist lapsed with the 

 abolition of the provinces, in 1876, he was appointed Professor 

 of Natural Science at the Otago University, and had charge of 

 the Otago Museum, which still contains abundant evidence of 

 the work that he did. About four years afterwards he removed 

 to Christchurch as Professor of Biology at Canterbury College, 

 and soon began to instil into his students some of his own 

 enthusiasm for natural science, as he had already done in 

 Dunedin. Here, while continuing his researches on geological 

 and zoological subjects, he found it necessary, for the sake of his 

 students, to take up the study of botany, and, with his natural 

 clearness of insight and ability to readily grasp the essential 

 details of all scientific subjects, he soon made himself familiar 

 with all necessary details, and a little pam.phlet which he 

 published on the structure of the common weed " shepherd's 

 purse " received most favourable notice from Nature. 



He amply established a claim to be considered a colonist who 

 had contributed more than his share to the welfare of New 

 Zealand. His papers and works deal not only with geology, 

 but also intricate phases of zoology, and they cover practically 

 every class of animal life, from that of mammal to that of 

 protozoa. It is very doubtful if any other New Zealand 

 zoologist will ever be able to cover so wide a field. While we 

 can with truth say that he practically created New Zealand 

 zoology, it is also true that he himself became the zoologist he 

 was as the necessary result of the special needs of New Zealand 

 zoology ; he was, in fact, the product of his environment. As 

 the result of his labours, aided to some extent by that of his 

 students and others, whom he started and encouraged in the 

 same task, the preliminary work of naming and classifying the 

 animals of New Zealand has been to a large extent completed, 

 and it is a great satisfaction to all zoologists that he was able, 

 with the assistance of several co-workers, to publish in the early 

 part of 1904 an " Index Faunee Nova-Zealandi^e " — i.e., a com- 

 plete list, with references, of all animals hitherto recorded from 

 New Zealand. 



Our late president was not content with merely naming and 

 describing new species. He saw clearly that this work, valuable 

 though it was, was only the first step towards the solution of 

 problems presented by the phases of animal life, and these 

 problems he never lost sight of. To the particular problems 



