264 t'^P''il' 1879. 



For a short time lie was Curator to the then young Entomological Society of 

 London. After the death of Edward Doubleday, in 1850, he was appointed an As- 

 sistant in the Zoological Department of the British Museum, and, in 1875, he became 

 Senior Assistant, which post he held at the time of his death. He was President of 

 the Entomological Society of London in 1862 and 1863. 



It is not possible for us to give even the titles of the papers published by 

 him in the Journals and the Transactions of various Societies, to the number 

 of over one hundred. Many of these, combined with his general "Catalogues" 

 of the Hymenoptera in the British Museum, were executed " to order," and were 

 better than could be said of the bulk of contemporaneous publications issued from 

 the same source. In these, as in all his work, he suffered from the want of general 

 and special education ; it is a marvel he succeeded so well. He was more fitted for 

 a field naturalist. In the field he was at home; in the study his enforced work must 

 have cost him painful and arduous labour. His keen powers of observation rendered 

 all his field work of the utmost value, and the results appear (especially) in his various 

 " Catalogues " (unfortunately of necessity so termed) of the British Hymenoptera, 

 published by the British Museum, which were illustrated (as were many of his other 

 papers) by plates drawn and engraved by himself, and of surpassing accuracy. His 

 "Catalogues " of the British Aculeate and Fossorial Hymenoptera are in the hands 

 of all. So lately as 1876, a " Catalogue " of British Bees, from his pen, was pub- 

 lished, practically a second edition of that which appeared in 1855, and it might have 

 been better for the author's reputation if this second edition never had appeared, for 

 it shows too plainly his inability to keep pace with the progress of scientific knowledge ; 

 the modern system of minute analysis was too much for him. It is only to a few 

 that is given the power of accommodating themselves to conditions up to an advanced 

 age : how many of us will be among those few, or know when to stop ? 



It is not by his monographic or literary work that the name of Frederick Smith 

 will endure. It loill endure from his conscientious and original observations in the 

 field. We have heard a great deal lately of the lives of such men as Thomas Edward 

 and Robert Dick. It was to this class that Frederick Smith originally belonged ; if 

 circumstances had permitted him to accumulate the same amount of general know- 

 ledge and to attain the same position, without the necessity of doing clerk's mechanical 

 work, the world woidd have mourned the loss of a naturalist of a high order. 



His attention was not confined to Hymenoptera. His knowledge of Coleoptera 

 (especially CurculionidcB) was extensive, and his British Museum work included a 

 Catalogue of PassalldcB. 



It will be strictly in keeping with his conservative character if we allude to the 

 tenacity with which he adhered to old ideas as opposed to modern. This was stri- 

 kingly exhibited in the manner in which he persisted in acting the part of champion 

 against those who, on the testimony of modern scientific explorei's, ventured to doubt 

 the luminosity of Fulgora : we might cite other analogous instances. 



Socially he will be long missed, for lie added much to the enjoyment of many 

 festive gatherings of entomologists and other naturalists. 



He leaves a widow, three sons, and a daughter, to deplore the loss of a good 

 husband and father. One of his sons is well known as an artist in natural history 

 subjects ; another is earning fame for himself as a coiichologist in the British Museum. 

 In referring to his Museum work, we must not forget the unwearying kindness 

 and courtesy with which during many years he assisted students and other visitors 

 to the Insect room ; and the generosity and trouble which he bestowed in naming 

 and adding to the collections of beginners. 



