1881.] 45 



years of unflagging devotion to the pursuit. Before he died, he disposed of these 

 accumulated treasures, ceding the Cicindelidce to the Museum of the Jardin des 

 Plantes, and the Car abides to M. Bene Oberthuv. 



M. de Chaudoii* never pretended to be more than a systematist and describer, 

 and it would perhaps be unjust to complain that his voluminous works contain no 

 trace of broader views of biological science. His truly wonderful powers of minute 

 analysis of forms were directed simply to the more accurate discrimination of genera 

 and species for — the naming of collections. As a natural consequence, his genera 

 and groups were always more or less artificial, though well adapted for their purpose ; 

 and his descriptions, when he thought necessary to describe fully, were models of 

 clearness and precision. His l'elations with other Entomologists were always 

 courteous and friendly, and he never indulged in controversial writing, however 

 great the provocation. 



John BlacfcivaU, F.L.S., who died on the 11th May last, was born in 1789 

 (according to Hagen, 1790). His earliest scientific communications gave no 

 indications of the subject which was to be his life's study. 



Sixty years ago when residing at Crumpsall, near Manchester, he published, in 

 Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, some Meteorological Observations in reference to 

 the diurnal mean temperature, and the following year some notes on Migratory 

 Birds, near Manchester, appeared in the Memoirs of the Manchester Philosophical 

 Society, this was followed by Observations on the Notes of Birds, indeed, 15 of his 

 first 25 papers related to Ornithology. 



His earliest paper on Spiders appeared in 1827, in the Transactions of the 

 Linnean Society, of which he was elected a Fellow in April, 1827 ; it is entitled 

 " Observations and experiments made with a view to ascertain the means by which 

 the Spiders that produce Gossamer effect their aerial excursions," and, in 1830, he 

 published a notice in the Zoological Journal, " On the manner in which the 

 Geometric Spiders construct their Nets." Indeed, of his second 25 papers, 18 are 

 devoted to Spiders, only 3 to Ornithology, 2 to Ichthyology, and 2 to Entomological 

 Subjects. Most of his papers were published in a collective form in 1834, under 

 the title of " Besearches in Zoology," a second edition of which appeared in 1873, 

 and was noticed in this Magazine, vol. x, p. 142. 



We believe it was in 1842 that he settled at Llanrwst, where he lived the 

 remainder of his clays. 



John Black wall's great work was "A History of the Spiders of Great 

 Britain and Ireland," issued by the Bay Society in two parts in 1861 and 1864, this 

 extends to 384 pp. large quarto, and is illustrated by 29 coloured plates. Mr. 

 Blackwall himself contributed most liberally to the expense of the coloured plates. 



The last thirty of Mr. Blackwall's separate papers were entirely devoted to 

 Spiders. One feature in Mr. Blackwall's communications for the press is deserving 

 of special comment, he wrote a hand which was truly "as clear as copper-plate," 

 and that which he wrote was destined to appear in print, and his proof-sheets were 

 returned to the printers with scarcely a single alteration, the charge for "corrections" 

 in his case was certainly reduced to a minimum. It is a great pity that such a good 

 example is not more generally followed. 



