xii. 



and for experiments on hybridization. He was a Fellow of 

 the Royal Society, of the Geological Society, and several others, 

 the Colonel of the South Lancashire Regiment, and a Vice- 

 President of the Dorset Natural Histoiy and Antiquarian Field 

 Club. 



I should not do justice to the memory of the late Sir William 

 Henry Flower, K.C.B., if I did not refer to his death, which 

 occurred in July last, and by which science has lost one of its 

 most eminent followers. Although not a member of our Field 

 Club he gave us a helping hand on several occasions. In 

 1 849 he matriculated at the University of London with honours 

 in zoology. Five years after he became a member of the 

 College of Surgeons. He was attached to the 63rd Regiment 

 during the Crimean War, and on his return home he received 

 from the Queen's hand the medal with clasps for the Alma, 

 Inkerman, Balaclava, and Sebastopol. 



In 1 86 1 the office of Conservator of the Museum of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons of England became vacant by 

 the death of Professor Quekett, and Sir William Flower was 

 nominated his successor. In 1864 he was elected a Fellow 

 of the Royal Society. In 1879 he succeeded the Marquis 

 of Tweedale as President of the Zoological Society. This 

 honourable post he held to the day of his death. In the 

 same year he was elected a Vice-President of the Anthropological 

 Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and the President in 1883. 

 The next year he was appointed Director of the Natural 

 History Departments of the British Museum, Cromwell-road, as 

 successor of Sir Richard Owen. He held this important post 

 until October, 1898, when, failing health compelling him to 

 relinquish active work, he gave up the directorship which he had 

 so long and ably held. The Royal Society awarded him one of 

 the Royal Medals in 1882 for his contributions to the Morpho- 

 logy and Classification of the Mammalia, and to Anthropology. 

 In 1887 he was made a C.B. and in 1892 a K.C.B. Sir 

 William's contributions to the literature of Anatomy and Geology 

 were various and voluminous. He contributed a long series 



