iUt 31 1906 



[ 331 ] 



Professor W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S. 



By the death of Professor W. F. II. Weldon, F.R.S., Liuacre I'rofessor 

 of Comparative Anatomy in the University of Oxford, which occurred 

 on Good Friday, 13 April, 1906, with painful suddenness in the midst 

 of his activities, the Marine Biological Association has lost one of its 

 oldest workers and one of its most earnest and enthusiastic supporters. 

 It was in the autumn of 1887, before the building of the Laboratory 

 was c jmpleted, that Professor Weldon first commenced work in connec- 

 tion with the Association, and from that time until his appointment to 

 the Chair of Zoology, at University College, London, in 1S91, he resided 

 chiefly at Plymouth, and was engaged in investigations at the Labora- 

 tory. Since 1891, although the periods spent at Plymouth have not 

 been so prolonged, visits during his vacations have taken place at 

 frequent intervals, and many of his most important papers have been 

 based upon researches carried out at the Laboratory and material 

 collected there. 



Professor Weldon's earlier investigations were directed to the study 

 of the classification, morphology, and development of the Decapod 

 Crustacea, and, although much of what he did remains unpublished, the 

 thoroughness with which his researches upon the whole group were 

 carried out was shown in the special courses of lectures upon it, which 

 he subsequently delivered at University College. At the same time 

 several important papers resulted from the work. Li two memoirs, one 

 published in the Journal of the Association on " The Ccelom and 

 Nephridia of Pakcmon scrratus" (N.S., i. p. 1G2), and the other in the 

 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, on " The Penal Organs of 

 Certain Decapod Crustacea" (vol. xxxii. p. 279), the structure of the 

 green glands of various Decapods was described, and the remarkable 

 development of the bladder of these glands in Palcemon, with its 

 considerable extension backwards into the body cavity, was for the first 

 time pointed out. In a later paper, on " The Formation of the Germ 

 Layers in Crangon vulgaris" {Quart. Journ. Micr. Sc, vol. xxxiii. 

 p. 343), a careful and detailed account of the early development of a 

 typical decapod ovum was given, and this paper well illustrates 

 Professor Weldon's skill, both as a master i.f histological technique and 

 as a powerful and accurate draughtsman. 



Of Professor Weldon's later work, based upon the application of 

 statistical methods to the study of variation, by which ho will be chiefly 

 remembered as a biological thinker of originality and force, it is not 

 necessary to dwell at any length here, but it is of interest to record 

 that one of his earliest, if not his first published statement on this 



NEW SERIES. — vol.. VII. NO. 3. .nrNE, IQOtJ. Y 



