164 Journal of Tra7'cl and Natural History 



water beetles, attached himself more particularly to them. His 

 first papers were notices upon them in the Zoologist and other 

 Natural History Journals. 



After leaving Northampton, he took a curacy in London, and 

 subsequently ministered in the Quebec Street Chapel, until within 

 a couple of years of his death. Whilst there, notwithstanding the 

 heavy duties of a London clergyman, he found time to continue 

 his natural history pursuits — especially during the hours before 

 breakfast. With the facilities which the London collections, 

 libraries, and intercourse afforded him, his subjects now embraced 

 a wider field. Besides a very good knowledge of beetles from 

 all parts of the world (supported by a large collection which 

 he had gradually accumulated), he specially followed out two 

 important sections — the water beetles and the Phytophaga. 

 On the former of these he had no rival, the most celebrated 

 entomologists throughout the world referring to him as the 

 authority on the subject ; and on the latter he was almost as 

 absolute, Mr Baly and he dividing the empire between them. On 

 these subjects he undertook to prepare the Catalogues of the 

 British Museum, and a considerable portion of the most difficult 

 part of them had been already published before his death. Another 

 portion waited only for his formal revisal, and the remainder was, 

 we understand, far advanced. We trust that his labour will not 

 be like water spilt upon the gi-ound, and that the Trustees of the 

 Museum will take the necessary steps to get his work finished 

 and published. 



Few but those who have been behind the scenes know the 

 wear and tear of a city clergyman's life, when he is zealous and 

 sincere. Preaching is but a small part of the labour; the 

 schools and different schemes occupy much more of it, but pro- 

 bably the private visiting and assisting the poor is the most arduous 

 part of it all. As it is the most arduous, so is it the most 

 dangerous. Many a valuable life has been sacrificed in that field. 

 The long hours which they pass on their feet, the exposure to 

 the infections of the sick-room, to the unhealthy atmosphere of the 

 dwellings of the poor, the mental distress and anxiety caused by 

 the misery it is their lot to see, too often without ability to relieve, 

 combined with the overwork from their other duties, have lost and 

 are constantly losing us lives infinitely more valuable than those, to 

 try to save which they give their own. True it is, the toil 

 and the danger is of their own seeking. If they so choose, they 



