146 OBITUARY : G. SHERRIFF TYE. 



and Fulton, a still larger individual measuring diam. maj. 445, min. 

 38, alt. 25 mm. 



Of the variety, besides the single specimen m my collection, 

 received from a French dealer, I have seen three specimens in 

 Mr. Da Costa's collection, and there are two specimens labelled 

 "Ecuador" in the British Museum. I also refer to this variety the 

 shell figured by Dr. Kobelt * as suhcastanea. 



OBITUARY. 

 G. SHERRIFF TYE. 



Born November 30, 1841, Died February 4, 1900. 



M.VLACOLOGiSTS and field naturalists in general have lost an eminent 

 worker in the person of Mr. G. Sherrifif Tye. He was born at 

 Handsworth, near Birmingham, and resided in the same parish 

 throughout his life. Although from a boy fond of the country and all 

 objects of nature, his career as a naturalist may be said to date from 

 about 1858, when he commenced to study the British Land and 

 Freshwater Shells. For many years he took an active interest in the 

 Birmingham Natural History Society, and formed in connection there- 

 with a Conchological Section, of which he was President for some 

 years. He was an early member of the then Leeds Conchological 

 Society, and an original member of the London Malacological Society. 

 Towards the latter end of his life he took a great interest in the 

 formation of the Midland Malacological Society, holding the view, 

 which the present writer heartily supports, that the formation of local 

 societies is very desirable, for if rightly managed they may become 

 centres of great usefulness to those whose circumstances in life place 

 them away from large scientific libraries and museums. 



Mr. Tye's published writings are few, he was always very loath to 

 put anything into print, and yet he was certainly one of the most 

 careful, thorough, and patient students of the mollusca it has ever 

 been my privilege to be associated with, and in certain departments 

 no one was more qualified to express an opinion. Some seven years 

 ago the present writer s\iggested to Mr. Tye the desirability of putting 

 on record some of the many observations and figures he had made of 

 the British Freshwater Mussels, and although severely handicapped 

 by the absence of a library containing the literature, at the time of his 



4 Conch. Cab., 1885 (2), iv, t. 181, figs, i, 2. 



