LIN^fEAN^ SOCIETY OF LONDOK. lO^ 



of Botauy. Wright definitely gave up oplithalmological work. In 

 1865 his attention was called to the fossils of the Jarrow Colliery, 

 and with T. H. Huxley he published in the following year an 

 important memoir on the Fossil Amphibia of the Kilkenny Coal 

 Measures. 



In 1867, Wright went to the Seychelles Islands to study the 

 flora and fauna of that group. Unfortunately, all his collecting 

 apparatus and preserving materials were lost on the way out by 

 shipwreck. But notwithstanding this misfortune he succeeded in 

 bringing back an important collection of animals and plants, and 

 in the following years \\as able to publish a series of papers 

 descx'ibing the new and interesting forms collected. These papers, 

 together with others on collections made off the coast of Portugal 

 and in Sicily in 1868, appeared in the ' Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History,' in the Transactions of the Eoyal Irish Academy, 

 and in the Reports of the British Association. 



In 1869, Wright was appointed University Professor of Botany 

 and Keeper of the Herbarium in Trinity College. During the 

 first years of his professorship he was still engaged in work on 

 his Seychelles and South European collections. In 1877, AVright 

 commenced to publish a series of memoirs on the structure and 

 development of Algae, which won the appreciative recognition of 

 Bornet in 1879. The work on Algte was put aside to draw up the 

 Report, with Th. Studer, on the Alcyonaria of the ' Challenger ' 

 Expedition. This was not completed till 1888. During this period 

 also Wright spent a great deal of energy on arranging the 

 Herbarium of Triiiity College ; and if it had not been for his devo- 

 tion and painstaking toil at a critical time, the usefulness of the 

 collection would have been seriously impaired. The history of 

 these events he records in the first number of the ' Notes from the 

 Botanical School of Trinity College ' — a journal which owes its 

 existence to Wright's energy and generosity. He further showed 

 his affection to the department of which he was head by presenting 

 to it his valuable collection of botanical books and journals. In 

 1894 Wright visited tlje Pyrenees and brought back several addi- 

 tions to the Herbarium, and the spring of 1895 he spent collecting 

 in Algiers. In 1904 he resigned his professoi'ship after a tenure 

 of 35 years. He remained Keeper of the Herbarium till his 

 death. 



In addition to his researches on Distribution and on Systematic 

 Biology, Wright took an active part in many Scientific Societies, 

 and was ofiicially connected with several scientific publications. 

 Among these activities may be mentioned his connection with the 

 ' Natural History Review ' as founder and editor, as Secretary, 

 with the Dublin Uni\ersity Zoological and Botanical Association, 

 with the Royal Geological Society of Ireland, and with Section D 

 of the British Association. He was President of the Natural 

 History Society of Dublin in 1872, and in 1874 he became Secretary 

 of the Royal Irish Academy and editor of its publications. He 

 was also editor for some time of the publications of the Royal 



