6 Obituary Notice. 



most widely-ki)Own biologists, and one who was admitted to 

 have the most thorough knowledge of Marine Algse of British 

 botanists. The gap will be difficult to fill, but we hope that 

 in time some will yet do so, following his footsteps, and 

 thus paying the truest and highest tribute to the memory of 

 one who was in all things a true and faithful student of God's 

 works and word. 



Richard Parnell, M.D. 



Another member of this Sooiety has lately passed away, 

 and for the eminence he attained in scientific research he 

 deserves special notice at this time. Having had little per- 

 sonal intercourse with him, I quote from a notice which 

 appeared after his death in the Courant : — 



" EiCHAKD Parxell, M.D., F.R.S.E., born at Braraford 

 Speke, in Devonshire, in 1810, w^as the son of John Ratcliffe 

 Parnell, of Bramford Speke, and came to Edinburgh in 1834 to 

 attend the medical classes at the University. There he became 

 a distinguished student, obtaining Professor Graham's gold 

 medal for practical botany, and Professor Lizars' silver 

 medal for practical anatomy. He completed his medical 

 education by studying in London and Paris. He was one of 

 the original members of the Edinburgh Botanical Society, 

 wliich originated at a meeting held on 8th February 1836, at 

 which he, Professor Edward Forbes, Professor Balfour, and 

 others were present. In 1837 he was elected a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1839 he contributed to the 

 Wernerian Natural History Society an elaborate paper (after- 

 wards published) on the fishes inhabiting or frequenting the 

 Firth of Forth. This essay was then stated to be the most 

 valuable contribution which the zoology of Scotland had 

 received for fifty years. He therein showed, what before had 

 not been known, that the whitebait in considerable numbers 

 inhabit the Firth in the summer season. By this invaluable 

 essay he at once placed himself in the foremost ranks of 

 ichthyologists. The published essay is enriched with fully 

 seventy illustrations of the fishes referred to. All the fishes 

 were not only actually collected and drawn by Dr Parnell, 

 but the plates for the work were also engraved by bim. He 

 received tlie Wernerian Society's gold medal for this ' elaborate 

 and scientific' essay. In April 1839 he went to thp West 



