730 Obituary. [Ibis, 



the 'Zoologist' (1906, p. 41) will be found a very good 

 summary of his observations on this rare and elusive 

 bird. 



In addition to his publications on birds^ Mr. Fowler wrote 

 extensively on the social and religious lives of Romans. 

 His best-known works were perhaps liis ' Social Life at Rome ' 

 and his studies of Cicero and Virgil, which brought him a 

 considerable reputation as a classical student. He was a 

 most interesting and arresting lecturer, and had a supreme 

 gift of descril)ing an observation so that it both illuminated 

 and fixed on the mind some far-reaching conclusion. 



Mr. Warde Fowler was elected a member of the Union in 

 1887, aiul remained a member until 1919 when he resigned. 

 He did not contribute to ' The Ibis/ but published most of 

 his papers, describing his observations, in the pages of the 

 ' Zooloo-ist ' between 1893 and 1908. 



Alphonse Dubois. 



From the last number of the ' Gerfaut' we learn of the 

 lamented death of Dr. A. Dubois, the doyen of Belgian 

 ornithologists, which occurred at his villa at Coxyde-sur- 

 Mer, where he has been living since he retired from his post 

 in the Royal Museum of Natural History of Brussels, and 

 where he remained throughout the duration of war, as 

 Coxyde is in the corner of Belgium that was never occupied 

 by the German forces. 



Alphonse Dubois was born in 1839 at Aix-la-Chapelle, 

 but his father, Charles Frederic Dubois, also a well-known 

 naturalist, moved to Brussels in the following year, and 

 Alphonse lived the greater part of his life in that city ; here 

 he was educated, and obtained a diploma of Doctor of 

 Medicine at the Free University of tlie city. In 1869 he 

 was appointed Conservator of tlie section of the higher 

 Vertebrates at the Royal Museum of Natural History, with 

 which institution he remained connected until his retire- 

 ment just previous to the outbreak of the war. 



