LlJTIfEAN" SOCIETY OF LONDON. 6 1 



have shown itself at an early age, for, while still a pupil in a large 

 private school at Rottingdean, he is said to have caused amuse- 

 ment and amazement to his companions by his earnestness in this 

 pursuit. As a young man he was a great traveller, spending 

 several years in South America, and, in 18G0, exploring the head- 

 waters of the Amazon. He was, however, no mere collector, but 

 attained a high position as a scientific ornithologist. In 1882 

 he succeeded the late Professor Newton as editor of the fourth 

 edition of ' Yarreh's British Birds,' and in 1889 he brought out 

 his own well-known ' Manual of British Birds.' He was also the 

 author of the Catalogue of Gulls in the British Museum, aud of 

 various other ornithological memoirs. He took an active part in 

 the work of the scientitic societies with which he was connected, 

 serving on the Councils of the Linnean, the Zoological, and the 

 Royal Geographical Societies, and of the British Ornithologists' 

 Union. For six years he served the British Association as 

 Honoraiy Secretary of Section D, and for a considerable time he 

 was a joint-editor of the ' Ibis.' His service on the Council of the 

 liinnean Society comprised three separate periods, viz, 1883-86, 

 1893-96, 1898-1900. [A. D.] 



Alexandek Someeville was an instance of an episode of busi- 

 ness intervening in a life mainly given to biologic studies. He 

 ■was born at Glasgow 2otli March, 1842, was educated at Glasgow 

 Academy aud the University, passing thence into a house of 

 business, Messrs. J. H. Young & Co. In 1865 he went to Cal- 

 cutta, in the firm of Mackinnon & Mackenzie for fifteen years, 

 but his health suffering from the Calcutta climate he came home, 

 resumed his interrupted studies at Glasgow University, and 

 graduated as B.Sc. on the biological side. He had met our late 

 i^ellow, Sylvanus Hanley, at Cannes, and was on his initiative 

 proposed and elected a Fellow on 16th June, 1881. For several 

 years he worked at marine zoology, principally mollusca, in which 

 group he added several species by dredging off the west coast of 

 Scotland. After this he took to botany and remained constant to 

 this pursuit during the remainder of his life. 



He identified himself with local natural history and associations, 

 and helped to procure support for the Scottish Marine Station at 

 Millport. A friend who was much associated with him in the 

 Glasgow Natural History Society wrote of him : — " His sympathies 

 religious, philanthropic, scientific, and social extended over so 

 wide a field and were manifested in so many forms of active use- 

 fulness, that his loss would be far more deeply felt than we can 

 ever know." He died on 5th June, 1907. The writer is indebted 

 to the Rev. J. E. Somerville for the chief information recorded 

 above of his brother. [B. D. J.] 



Henby Clifton Sorby, LL.D. (Cantab.), F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S., 

 F.Z.S., F.R.M.S., the well-known geologist, was a Fellow of the 

 Linnean Society from 1875 until the date of his death in March 



