Memoir of George Robert Waterhouse. Ixxiil 
In November, 1848, he was appointed an Assistant 
_ in the Department of Mineralogy and Geology in the 
British Museum. In 1844 he commenced his work on 
the ‘Natural History of Mammalia,’ which occupied all 
his available spare time until 1848, when, chiefly owing 
to the outbreak of the French Revolution, the publisher, 
Mr. Hippolyle Bailliére, was unable to continue the 
work. According to the agreement made with the 
publisher, the work was to have been completed in three 
volumes ; a task which it would have been impossible to 
fulfil without greatly curtailing the descriptions in the 
third volume. The two volumes which were completed, 
containing the account of the Marsupials and Rodents, 
would have been sufficient to establish my father’s 
reputation as a naturalist. It is perhaps not too much 
to say that the work has never been surpassed, and it 
holds its place as one of the most valuable contributions 
to the knowledge of the mammals. 
He was President of the Entomological Society for 
the years 1849 and 1850, and in this latter year he was 
elected an Honorary Fellow of the Zoological Society in 
recognition of his services as a zoologist. In 1851 he 
was appointed ‘‘ Keeper of the Mineralogical Branch of 
the Natural History Department” in the British Museum, 
the fossils being at that time associated with and sub- 
ordinate to the minerals. 
In 1852 his youngest brother, Mr. F. G. Waterhouse, 
went to §. Australia, where he afterwards became 
Curator of the South Australian Institute Museum at 
Adelaide. At this time the Coleoptera of South Australia 
were not much known, and Mr. F. G. Waterhouse spent 
much time in collecting them. Collections were sent 
home from time to time in tin canisters, the insects 
being arranged in layers between pieces of linen, and in 
this way they arrived, for the most part, in excellent 
condition. Much of my father’s leisure was at this 
time occupied in mounting the specimens he received in 
this way. As the tins were opened, the specimens were 
laid on damp blotting-paper on a plate covered with a 
bell-glass, and placed near the fire, by which means they 
were rapidly relaxed so that they might be pinned with 
safety. At this work, when afresh consignment arrived, 
he sometimes sat till the small hours of the morning. 
These collections, moreover, naturally led him to the 
PROC, ENT, SOC. LOND., v., 1888. K 
