138 [November, 



iluary. 



Thomas Chapman. We have, with sincere regret, to record the loss of this distin- 

 guishfcd Scottisli natm-alist, — for, though an Englishman bj birth, he for so many years 

 worked Jiorth of the Tweed, that his name would almost instinctively have occurred 

 had there been question concerning the best knowai entomologist of his day of Scotland. 

 Mr. Chapman was born at Nottingham, on 22nd January, 1816 ; he commenced 

 active life as a student of medicine, but afterwards went into business in Glasgow, 

 where he resided for forty years, until bad health (accelerated, it is to be feared, 

 by the failure of the Oity of Glasgow Bank, in which undertaking he had the mis- 

 fortune to be a shareholder) compelled his retirement. From the beginning of the 

 present year he resided with his son, Dr. T. Algernon Chapman, at Burghill, Here- 

 ford, where he died on the 27th August last. 



Devotedly attached to natural history, and especially to that branch of it which 

 is most favom-ed by our readers ; of active personal habits and a genial and unpre- 

 tentious disposition ; Mr. Chapman probably affords as happy an instance as is 

 possible under ordinary conditions of life, of the true enjoyment to be derived from 

 scientific pursuits. He must have steadily applied himself for many years to the 

 dry details of his business, in order to have secured the means of surrounding himself 

 as he did with costly evidences of cultivated taste ; and from the beginning he must 

 also liave reaped the advantage of that wholesome relaxation from the comparatively 

 sordid cares of life, which is to be obtained at so cheap a price by a study of the 

 homely phenomena of nature. The fauna of the country of his adoption received 

 at first his special care, and, as is usual with beginners, the Lepidoptera attracted 

 him most ; but in botany, geology, and other kindred branches of physical science 

 he also became proficient. His kindly temper led him much into the society of his 

 fellow woi-kers in Glasgow '^of the Natviral History Society of which city he was 

 for many years an active member, being finally one of its Vice-Presidents), and there 

 are probably few southern Entomologists who have visited Scotland without en- 

 joying his hospitality. 



Not assuming the position of a scientific naturalist, or caring to take a part in 

 the scramble for priority too often dignified with the name of Entomology nowadays, 

 Mr. Chapman did not publish much : he prepared a list of the Lepidoptera of the 

 Clyde district and Western Highlands, which was, we believe, incorporated in Dr. 

 Buchanan White's Catalogue, and from time to time notes from his pen appeared in 

 the Transactions of the Society above mentioned, and in our own columns. He 

 devoted his time chiefly of late years to Exotic Lepidoptera, especially those of the 

 West Coast of Africa, and many references to his name in connection with this 

 locality will be found in the works of Hewitson and Strecker. It may be safely 

 presumed that early training under a parent genuinely devoted to natural history 

 has developed in Dr. Algernon Chapman that talent for biological work which has 

 hitherto so eminently charactei-ized his writings. 



Professor Camillo Rondani. This celebrated Italian Entomologist died at 

 Parma, aged 72, on the 18th of September last. He was born at Parma, and was 

 Professor of Natural History at the Royal College, and Director of the Technical 

 Institute, in his native city. Ho was best known as a Dipterologist, his principal 

 work being the "I>ipterolo£/ice Italicce Prodromiis," of which he published six I 



