LINXEAN SOCIETY OP L0XD01S-, 67 



faunas (especially the fossil) of England, Malta, Australia, Tas- 

 mania, Java, India, and Arabia. His work on the Echinoidea, 

 which was not less important and thorough, commenced with 

 the forms associated with the Corals he had described from 

 Australia and Arabia, and culminated in the monographs of 

 the Tertiary Echinoidea of India, published in conjunction 

 with a friend, in the ' Palaeontologia Indica,' between 1882 and 

 1886. 



Prof. Duncan's palteontological work was by no means confined 

 to mere descriptive morphology and taxonomy ; for there is 

 scarcely one of his papers in which he does not discuss the aili- 

 nities of the faunas concerned, and the light they throw upon the 

 physical geograjDliy of the past. Bearing upon this aspect of his 

 work, and upon the relationship of zoological evidence to geolo- 

 gical problems, may be mentioned his papers on " The Physical 

 Greography of AVestern Europe during the Mesozoic and Cainozoic 

 Periods elucidated by their Coral Eaunas," " The Eormatiou of 

 main Land Masses," and " The Eauna of Alpine Lakes." The 

 views expressed in the last two memoirs are no less original than 

 striking. 



In addition to his palaeontological work, he made many con- 

 tributions to zoology, chiefly on Corals and Echini, but also on 

 Ophiuroidea, Sponges, and Protozoa. Two of his most valuable 

 works, both of which were published by this Society, are the 

 "Eevision of the Madreporaria," issued in 1885, and the " Ee- 

 vision of the Grenera and Great Groups of the Echinoidea." 

 These two masterly memoirs may be said to contain the summary 

 of his life's work on the groups with which they deal. The 

 Eevision of the Madreporaria consisted of diagnoses of every 

 genus of Coral (excepting the Eugosa) and of a classification 

 which has not yet been superseded. The Eevision of the Echinoidea 

 treated of that group in a similar manner, and made a great 

 advance in our knowledge in a number of important details. The 

 application of his own brilliant discoveries on the structure of 

 the ambulacra, of the perignathic girdle, and of other anatomical 

 characters enabled him to place the classification on a surer 

 footing than has previously existed, by substituting order for 

 chaos, and a natural arrangement for arbitrary grouping. 



In addition to his special w^ork. Prof. Duncan undertook a 

 large amount of popular literary work. He edited the six volumes 

 of Cassell's ' Natural History,' the recent issues of Lyell's ' Stu- 

 dent's Elements,' and the ' Micrographic Dictionary;' and he 

 wrote, amongst other things, a ' Primer of Physical Geography,' 

 a * Manual of Geology for the Indian Civil Service,' a volume of 

 biographies entitled ' Heroes of Science,' and a small popular 

 Natural History treatise, ' On the Sea-Shore,' as well as numerous 

 scattered papers, jjamphlets, and addresses. The list of his works 

 in the Eoyai Society Catalogue are 92 in number up to 1883, 

 without including those written in conjunction with others. 



Prof. Duncan was an able lecturer aod a successful teacher, 



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