Obituary. \ 63 



Robert Brown. — Dr. Robert Browii^ who was bora in 

 Scotland in 1842, and died in October last, was a well- 

 known traveller in the Arctic Regions, ISIorth and South 

 America, and elsewhere. He was also a geographer of high 

 qualificatious, and an industrious writer in journals and 

 magazines. Amongst the 30 volumes and a large number 

 of articles and reviews of which Dr. Brown was the author, 

 one only, so far as we know, relates expressly to ornithology, 

 that is, his " Synopsis of the Birds of Vancouver Island," 

 published in ' The Ibis ' for 1868, which contains a full 

 summary of our knowledge of the avifauna of that island, 

 as it stood at that period. 



Thomas Henry Huxley. — We are unwilling to close our 

 sad Obituary for 1895 without reference to the death of 

 Professor Huxley, which took place on the 20tli of June 

 last. It is not necessary here to recapitulate the events of 

 Huxley's life, which have been published in all the news- 

 papers and journals *, nor to repeat the praises of his career, 

 which are in everybody's mouth. But ornithologists must 

 not forget that at least two of the most important and epoch- 

 marking papers that he ever wrote related to our special 

 branch of zoological science. When Huxley came to the Class 

 of Birds in the course of his lectures at the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, he was asked by the writer of this notice how he 

 meant to classify them. His well -remembered reply was that 

 he intended to treat birds as " extinct animals," and arrange 

 them solely by their skeletons, as being the most enduring 

 parts of their organic structure, and as having been hitherto 

 much too little attended to. The result of Huxley's studies 

 was, as we all know, a re-arrangement of birds on entirely 

 new principles. Huxley quickly discovered that the various 

 modifications of the cranial bones which are found in the 

 class " Aves" had been unaccountably neglected by previous 

 students. Mainly on these variations he founded the 



* See (for such information) '* Thomas Henry Iliixley,'' ' N aturo,' 

 vol. lii. p. 226 (189.')). 



