BY T. HARVEY JOHNSTON. iat 
President. He was also a very important contributor 
to our Proceedings, as can be seen by a glance at ube list 
of his published work. 
He was a son of James Devis, of Birmingham, and a 
relative of the well known portrait painters, Arthur and 
Arthur William Devis, father and son, who flourished in the 
18th and 19th centuries. His early education was received 
at Edward VI’s Grammar School, Birmingham, whence 
he proceeded to Magdalen College, Cambridge, graduating 
B.A. He did not take the degree of M.A. until many years 
afterwards. He entered the Church of England and was 
ordained, becoming rector of Brecon, in Somersetshire. 
Later, his enthusiasm for natural history led him to accept 
the position of Curator of the Queen’s Park Museum, Rock- 
vale, Manchester, and while there he actively interested 
himself in Anthropology, becoming a vice-president of 
the newly formed Anthropological Society. It was about 
this time that his earliest papers, of which I have a record, 
were published (1865-1870). 
In June, 1870, he left for Australia, arriving in Rock- 
hampton in November of that year, and eventually settling 
at Black Gin Creek, near that City, and, later, in the Cler- 
mont district. Subsequently he revisited England. On 
his return to Rockhampton he became the librarian of its 
School of Arts. During this time he contributed a number 
of articles on the local bird-life and geology to the Queens- 
lander under the pen-name of ** Thickthorn.” 
In January, 1882, he came to Brisbane to take up 
the Curatorship, afterwards designated Directorship, of 
the Queensland Museum in succession—after a long inter- 
regnum—to Dr. W. A. Haswell, now Professor of Biology 
in Sydney University. This position he occupied for 
nearly twenty-three years, retiring on account of age in 
1905, though his services were retained as a consulting 
specialist until three years before his death. 
In estimating the value of Mr. DeVis’ work at the 
Museum, one must take into consideration the smallness 
of the staff and of the annual vote for the upkeep of the 
institution at the time. He did a great deal of classifica- 
