LINNBAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 29 



the University of Utrecht. The title of his inaugural lecture 

 was " De versnelde ontwikkeling door erstgeboorte." 



In 1885 he was awarded the gold medal presented by the 

 " Utrecht sch Genootschap voor kunsten en weteuschapen " for 

 his work, " Proeve eener ontwikkelings geschiedenis van Lineus 

 obscurus." His work upon Neinertines may be said to have 

 culminated in his memoir of the year 1887 on "The Kelatioii of 

 the Nemertea to Vertebrata," the last of a series of half a dozen 

 or $j, papers on the Nemertines contributed to the ' Quarterly 

 Journal of Microscopical Science.' 



Thus was he led to turn his attention and energy to what 

 proved to be the chief interest of his life, the history of the 

 earliest stages in the development of the higher mammals, which 

 he began during the eighties, and he published as a result of this 

 work the first of his " Studies in Mammalian Embryology. I. 

 The Placentation of Erinaceus europeus, with Remarks on the 

 Phylogeny of the Placenta," in the ' Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science,' vol. xxx., 1890. 



To iiis choice of Insectivora and Lemurs as the orders of 

 Eutherian mammals to which he confined his original work, 

 Hubrecht was led by the opinion expressed by Huxley that the 

 Insectivora, especially the Hedgehog, occupy a central and primi- 

 tive place among mammals, and that the " shrews tend towards 

 the Rodents, the Tupayae towards the Lemurs." So we find him 

 consistently carrying out his original intention during the suc- 

 ceeding 25 years, and brilliant papers followed one another upon 

 Sorex, Tiqmia, Tarsius, JSycticehus — and a MS. on Galeopithecus 

 remains which was nearly finished at the time of his death. 



In 1889 Hubrecht received an invitation from the Royal 

 Physical Society (Koniuklijke Katuurkundige Vereeniging) in 

 Batavia to undertake a journey to the Indian Archipelago for the 

 purpose of scientific research, which he "accepted with alacrity " 

 as he expressed it. This resulted in the acquisition of a rich 

 material at the time and in subsequent years ; for it was his 

 custom to distribute among native hunters carefully drawn 

 pictures of the animals he required, and thus the supply continued 

 to reach him after his return home. He went also on a similar 

 expedition to Algeria. So recently as the spring of last year, 

 although far from well, he organised and took part in an expe- 

 dition to South Africa in search of embryolcjgical material of rare 

 mammals. He was still there when war broke out and caused 

 his return to Europe, 



By means of these expeditions Hubrecht accumulated the in- 

 valuable collection of mammalian developmental specimens which 

 is now in the embryological laboratory of the Rijks Universiteit, 

 Utrecht, upon which he continued to work till within a few days 

 of his death. 



Hubrecht's desire was to render his own material and that of 

 others available to all who may wish to use it. With this inten- 

 tion he initiated the formation of the Institut international 



