MT. 52-53.] DEATH OF FALCONER. 195 



Another memoir was read at the Royal Society, " On 

 some further Evidence bearing on the Excavation of 

 the Valley of the Somme by River- Action, as exhibited 

 in a Section at Drucat, near Abbeville." 



The death of Hugh Falconer, which took place on 

 31st January 1865, was a severe blow to Prestwich, 

 who to the end of his life did not cease to lament the 

 loss of this friend. They had been on terms of close 

 intimacy almost from the date of Falconer's return from 

 the East, some ten years before ; they had joined hand 

 in hand in attacking difficult geological questions ; and 

 they had made plans for joint work in the future 

 plans, alas ! never to be realised. One of the last notes 

 dictated by Falconer, when unable to hold a pen, was 

 addressed to Joseph Prestwich, requesting him to take 

 charge of the interests of a case which concerned a 

 mutual friend, for whom he had suggested the award of 

 the proceeds of the Wollaston Fund. " I would have 

 seen you to-day if I could, but they would not let you 

 come up," were among the last words dictated by Hugh 

 Falconer. 



In subsequent years, Prestwich was often heard 

 to exclaim when handling undetermined specimens of 

 fossil bones, " What work we should have done together 

 if he only had been spared ! " There was no naturalist 

 who possessed Hugh Falconer's vast palseontological 

 and botanical knowledge combined (botany had been his 

 profession), no one more ready of access or more willing 

 to co-operate and impart that knowledge. His boyish 

 mirth and racy originality made him a brilliant com- 

 panion, while underlying all the glee and laughter- 

 provoking sallies there was the deeply affectionate and 

 genial nature which drew Joseph Prestwich as with a 

 magnet. 



