GEORGE HENRY VERRALL. 331 



whether in his business, on the poHtical platform, or in friendly 

 discussion from the Chair, his remarks were distinguished by 

 scrupulous honesty of purpose, and his commonsense advice 

 and counsel were, therefore, the more gratefully received and 

 acknowledfjed. Moreover Verrall, though by length of service 

 a veteran in the field, kept pace with the modern developments 

 of science which eventually brought entomology into the recog- 

 nized forefront of the battle for knowledge. His heart was one 

 with the " Young Guard " ; in an entomological, as well as in a 

 general, sense he never grew old, and no more remarkable proof 

 of his intellectual energy can be given than that but a few years 

 back he undertook the onerous work of cataloguing, describing, 

 and figuring the three thousand or so species of British Diptera 

 in a thoroughly scientific manner. The volumes already pub- 

 lished — V. Stratiomyidie, &c. (1909), and viii. Syrphidte, &c. 

 (1901) — are an earnest of what this great work was intended to 

 be, and in no department will he be more sincerely mourned and 

 missed than among our Dipterists, some at least of whom have 

 been encouraged to proceed upon their way in this neglected 

 branch by his patient and sturdy example. 



With the termination of the late Edward Newman's pro- 

 prietorship of 'The Entomologist,' and the commencement of 

 our present Editor's term of ofBce one-and-twenty years ago, Mr. 

 Verrall's name appears in the list of specialists invited to join 

 the Reference Committee ; and on many occasions since he has 

 given us the benefit of his wide knowledge. 



Perhaps, however, the greatest service rendered his brother 

 scientists was the part he played, and the generous share he 

 took, in saving the last of the Cambridgeshire fens from the 

 fate which has befallen so many similar strongholds of Nature. 

 We owe it to him, and to Mr. Walter Rothschild, indeed, that 

 the greater part of Wicken has become " a national trust," 

 wherein the naturalist and the botanist may pursue their in- 

 vestigations, and the special marshland fauna and flora may 

 continue to flourish unchecked. So that, if Verrall is remem- 

 bered in the constituency which he represented for all too short a 

 time as Member for Newmarket, we entomologists shall always 

 acclaim him, as we did a few years back, as the Member for 

 Wicken ! 



Of the value of his achievements as a lifelong devotee to the 

 study of Diptera I am hardly entitled to venture an opinion ; 

 but certain it is that no one possessed better qualifications than 

 he did for the work. By virtue of his magnificent collections 

 and complete library of reference, backed with forty years' 

 experience in the field, he could justly claim the right to be 

 heard and accepted as an authority of the first rank. 



In the realm of science his untimely death creates a void not 

 easily to be filled. May his memory long be kept green in the 



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