OBITUARY. 



187 



was married to Jessie Margaret Murdoch, at Eccles, Dumfrieshire, who 

 survives him. There were seven children — -five daughters and two 

 sons ; one of his sons joined up during the War and died in England ; 

 his other children still survive. In 1884 he returned to England and 

 took up his residence at Southampton, where he remained till 1888, 

 when he moved to Wilmington, near Dartford, Kent. -In 1889 he 

 moved to Cambridge, and 1890 accepted the position as Curator in 

 Entomology at the Cambridge University, which he held till March, 

 1909. In 1909 he gave up his residence at Cambridge and retired to 

 Brockenhurst, in the New Forest, where he had built a house opening 

 on to the forest which he loved so well. It is here that he died, and 

 in the churchyard of the little parish church, which has associations 

 with the ninth century and Domesday book, he lies buried in a spot 

 that overlooks the forest. 



David's family life was of the happiest, especially with his mother, 

 whose widowhood was brightened by his constant attention. 



As Sharp left no autobiographical notes it is not possible to follow 

 the influences which moulded his character and directed his life's work. 

 His father was a man of strong personality, which he inherited ; he 

 also inherited a wonderfully judicious mind and a cautious but sound 

 judgment. As a young man he met Herbert Spencer under his 

 father's roof, and he was greatly attracted both by the writing and 

 personality of this philosopher. His love of fundamental principles as 

 guides to actions and beliefs were evidently gathered from this source. 



Like many another entomologist, he was first attracted to the study 

 of insects through the beauty of butterflies. Before he took up the 

 study of medicine a room at the top of the house in London was con- 

 verted mto a butterfly farm, and here, with the assistance of one of his 

 sisters, he bred butterflies and moths. The exact date he deserted 

 Lepidoptera for Coleoptera is difficult to fix, and it was most probably 

 gradual. When in Brighton, in May, 1861, he bought a small note 

 book, and for a number of years he noted all his catches and localities. 

 On February 5th, 1863, he possessed 662 species of named British 

 Coleoptera, and on March 31st, 1865, he had 1984. 



The turning point of his life was in 1867, when he accepted the 

 charge of a patient at Thornhill, for this gave him time and oppor- 

 tunity to devote himself to entomological work which he never could 

 have done had he started upon a general practice. It was during this 

 period that he brought out his Rerision of the Homalota (1869), and 

 did most of the work on the Dyticidae, which was published. 



In January, 1876, he offered himself as a candidate to the Town 

 Council of the City of Glasgow for the post of Curator of the City 

 Industrial Museum. It is perhaps as well for the science of ento- 

 mology that he did not procure the position. Upon his return to 

 England he decided to abandon the medical profession and devote 

 himself entirely to entomology. In the following year (1885) he 

 became associated with the Zoological Record as Recorder of Insects, 

 and this position he held until a short time before his death, the. 

 editing of the 1920 volume being his last work. The thirty years as 

 Editor of this work made his name a household word to all zoologists. 

 The work entailed as Recorder of Insects and as Editor was great, and 

 to most men of Science a great deal of it would be uncongenial, but 

 Sharp took it as a duty, and zoologists owe him their gratitude. 



