Changes in the Staff. 41 



1879-81. 



CHANGES IN THE STAFF. 



The year 1879 was one of more than usual activity and 1879-1881. 

 progress ; unfortunately it was also one in which the Depart- 

 ment lost one of its oldest and most valued officers, Frederick 

 Smith, who died on February 16th. He had been in the service 

 of the Trustees for twenty-eight years, and was promoted to the 

 rank of Assistant Keeper in 1875. He set an example to the 

 staff" of the Department by his high sense of duty, and by his 

 unflagging devotion to the service of the Trustees. His long 

 experience and sound judgment in all entomological matters 

 rendered his advice invaluable to the Keeper, than whom no one 

 could feel the loss of this loyal colleague more keenly. He 

 maintained the collections entrusted to his care in an unsurpassed 

 state of efficiency, and it will be a long time before the place 

 which he occupied in science as an entomologist, more especially 

 as one intimately acquainted with Hymenoptera, will be filled 

 again. Shortly before his death he had completed the MS. of 

 " Descriptions of New Hymenoptera," which was afterwards 

 issued by the Trustees as a separate publication. 



Mr. Smith was succeeded in the Assistant-Keepership by 

 Mr. A. G. Butler, and the vacancy thus caused in the class of 

 assistants was filled by the transfer of Mr. W. F. Kirby from 

 the Science and Art Museum, Dublin, where he held a similar 

 position ; he was also the author of the Catalogue of the Hewitson 

 Collection and of many papers on entomological subjects. 



In 1881 the Department lost by death the services of Mr. 

 Arthur W. E. O'Shaiighnessy, an Assistant of the Second Class. 

 Although officially placed at the disposal of the Superintendent, 

 whenever this officer required assistance in clerical work, Mr. 

 O'Shaughnessy was employed for many years exclusively on the 

 collection of Reptiles and Fishes. He acquired considerable 

 knowledge of these classes, and proved very efficient in his 

 duties. At the time of Mr. O'Shaughnessy's death, Mr. G. A. 

 Boulenger, a member of the staff of the Brussels Museum, 

 was engaged in the study of the Batrachia, with the view of 

 cataloguing that part of the collection. The Trustees had 

 availed themselves of Mr. Boulenger's special knowledge in 

 order to have the group re-arranged, and described in a new 



