28(i ANNUAL REl'ORT. 



©bituarij. 



Geoffrey Watkins Smith, 



In the Spring of 1907 Geoffrey Smith arrived in Tas- 

 mania for the purpose of working up our ver}^ interesting 

 freshwater Crustacea. He came with a brilliant record. 

 Though only twenty-four years of age, his work on the 

 BJiizocephala had already established his claim to world- 

 wide recognition in th© section of natural history to whick 

 he devoted his energy. He had already been elected Fel- 

 low and tutor of New Cbllege, Oxford. 



From the very outset Smith, by his unassuming 

 getniality and the rapidity with which he dropped into the 

 ways of Australian students, gained the good wishes of 

 those with whom h© was brought into contact. Within a 

 few days of arrival he joined us in a rough camp-out at 

 Adventure Bay, where he made his first accjuaintance with 

 , billy-tea and black snakes. H© handled and bcttled up 

 a fine specimen of the latter without any of the reserve- 

 customary with those making their first acquaintance with 

 these reptiles. 



The crustacean which he had most desire to study 

 was our interesting mountain shrimp, Anai<j)i(lef< tasinanict, 

 originally described by Geo. M. Thompson, of Duiiedin. 

 Smith spent several weeks^ on Mt. Wellington studying the 

 shrimp in its native home, and the work he did is incor- 

 porated in his excellent memoir on "Anaspidacea living 

 and fossil"" published in 1909. 



Smith worked hard during the few months he wa» 

 with us. The Jordan, Lake St. Clair, and the Great Lake 

 were, perhapsi, his most successful hunting grounds. His 

 most interesting find was a small shrimp allied to Anas- 

 pides, Avhich he took in quantity in one bed of weed in the 

 Great Lake. This animal, q^uite new to science, has never 

 been taken anywhere else but in that one bed of weed. A 

 little more than two years ago, when members of the 

 British Association were here, we made a visit to the pla<?e, 

 and captured a few hundred specimens in this spot. Smith 

 described his find under the name PardnaKpidex larustrifi. 



On his return to England, Smith pulilished papers on 



