OQr* [October, 



responsible for the water-beetles, the Staphylinidae, most of the Clavicornes, 

 certain Bkipickophora, and the important families Brenthidae and Bruchidue. 



His connection with the ''Zoological Record" commenced in 1885, when 

 he undertook the editing of the section Insecta; and in 1891 he became the 

 responsible editor of the entire work. His influence was immediately apparent 

 in the greatly improved arrangement and increased facilities for reference, 

 and this strenuous and exacting task was to him a labour of love. Up to the 

 very last, although confined to his room, he continued to devote two or three 

 hours a day to the reading and correction of the proofs as they ai-rived from 

 the printer. 



As regards the Coleoptera of our own country, we owe to him two 

 excellent catalogues of our species, issued in 1871 and 1893, the latter in 

 conjunction with the Rev. Canon Fowler. His long residence in Scotland, 

 and his intimate acc[uaintance with its beetles, resulted in the publication, in 

 the quarterly " Scottish Naturalist " (1871-9), of the " Coleoptera of Scotland/' 

 an exhaustive annotated list of the members of that Order occurring north of 

 the Bonier. His energ}^ and discernment in the field, which he retained up 

 to quite recent years, and his unrivalled knowledge of the insects themselves, 

 enabled him to add to our country's list of Coleoptera a greater number of 

 species than perhaps any other worker of our time has done. By his death the 

 last link with the active and successful band of Coleopterists of the ''fifties " 

 and " sixties" of the last century is finally severed. Of his colleagues of that 

 period he was full of interesting memories and quaint anecdotes, and it is a 

 source of much regret to his many friends of the present generation of beetle- 

 hunters that he could never be induced to publish his reminiscences of those 

 bygone times. 



Unquestionably Dr. Sharp's mafpnim nptis is the treatise on "Insects" 

 forming the greater part of two volumes of the " Cambridge Natural History." 

 Of this work it is unnecessary to speak further, as the volumes were adequately 

 reviewed in our Magazine on their appearance in 1895 and 1899, but it is safe 

 to say that no work of equal value on general Entomology has been produced 

 in this c mntry since Westwood's '' Introduction to the Modern Classification 

 of Insects " appeared more than half-a-century previously. 



To our own Magazine he was one of the most valued contributors from its 

 commencement, and a brief note by him narrowly missed inclusion in our very 

 first number, having in fact been printed on its cover. There is scarcely one 

 of our volumes in which one or more of his communications may not be found, 

 asid many of these rank among the most important memoirs that have 

 appeared in our pages. 



Dr. Sharp formed an extensive collection of Coleoptera from all parts of 

 the world, which was acquired by the nation some few years ago, and more 

 recently his fine entomological library was transferred en bloc to the Cawthron 

 Institute at Nelson, New Zealand. His collection of British beetles, one of 

 the finest and most complete in existence, remains at present with the family. 



Besides the Coleoptera, some other orders of Insects, and especially the 

 Hemiptera, received a considerable share of his attention ; and when at 

 Cambridge, and subsequently in the New Forest, he studied and collected 

 Dipteru with great success, and added several species to our Fauna. 



