56 PEOCEEDIlSrGS OP THE 



Obituaet Notices. 



Abeaham Dee Eaetlett was born in 1812, and early- 

 developed a reputation as a field naturalist and taxidermist, 

 ■wbicli is memorably associated witb tlie specimen of the Eagle- 

 Owl and other objects that adorn the galleries of the British 

 Museum of Natural History. He in time became Super- 

 intendent of the Natural History Department of the Crystal 

 Palace, Sydenham, and relinquished that office for the more 

 responsible one of Superintendent of the Zoological Society's 

 Gardens at Eegent's Park, which he held till death. He entered 

 the service of the Zoological Society in 1859, and, under the 

 direction of Dr. P. L. Sclater, P.E.S., Sec. Zool. Soc, contributed 

 largely to the world-renowned development of the Society's 

 Gardens. Throughout the 38 years of office he performed his 

 administrative duties with a never-failing success and jjopularity 

 that endeared him to all with whom he came in contact. The 

 appointment gave him his chance, and he made the most of it, 

 devoting day and night alike to observation and experiment upon 

 the habits of animals in his charge. The results of his labours 

 and lucubrations fill many pages of the Zoological Society's 

 ' Proceedings,' of the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History/ 

 of 'Land and Water,' and 'The Pield.' They have added 

 several new species to the category of animal forms, and have 

 settled not a few moot points in taxonomy and genetic 

 relationship. The interest which attaches to his settlement in 

 1865 of the then disputed question of the shedding of the horn 

 by the Prong-buck, and of his slightly later discovery of the 

 scissors-like action of the lower incisors of the Kangaroo, survives 

 in the minds of working zoologists ; while in the closing year of 

 his life we find him taking a prominent part in the determination 

 of the mode of oviposition of the Surinam Toad. He had a 

 positive passion for the racy side of popular Natural History, to 

 which the writings of his intimate friend the late Prank Buck- 

 land and Mr. Bompas's life of that naturalist bear ample 

 testimony. He was guardian, doctor, dentist, to the animals 

 under his care, and he devoted himself to their best interests 

 with a fearlessness begotten of affection that at times endangered 

 his life ; and was rivalled only by his marvellous presence of 

 mind and power to do the right thing on emergency. Witness 

 his lancing a Rhinoceros's gum, his recovery of a large bone from 

 entanglement in a Lion's mouth, his extraction of a Tiger' s- 

 claw, and his masterly capture of an escaped Bear. Achieve- 

 ments of like order enshroud his memory, sufficient to break the 

 heart of the most enterprising of menagerie men. Great as were 

 his services to the Zoological Society and his personal iniluencey 

 there has died with him a vast knowledge of the habits and 

 management of animals in captivity, begotten of enthusiasm and 

 devotion to a life's calling, which we could have wished recorded^ 



