IxXXvi PROCEEDINGS. 



Stellarton, where on the retirement of the manager he was 

 offered that position, but declined it. He then came to 

 Halifax and in 1853 entered the firm of Wm. Stairs, Son and 

 Morrow, which connection he retained till his death, becom- 

 ing a son-in-law of Wm. Stairs the founder of the firm. He 

 became a man of considerable wealth, was philanthropic, 

 built "Bircham," North West Arm, about 1869, and died 

 there after an illness of several years. Much of his life 

 was given to the study of natural history. He had been, 

 about 1861, a president of the old Nova Scotian Literary and 

 Scientific Society, but for some reason did not join the Insti- 

 tute of Natural Science until February, 1872, but then took 

 an active part in all its affairs, was a member of its council 

 from October 1873 to October 1880, and first vice-president 

 from the latter date till 10th October, 1883, when he was 

 elected president, which office he occupied up to his death. 

 In the basement of his residence he had a small aquarium for 

 studying the habits of fish,- speciments of which he regularly 

 received from fishermen. He also had a laboratory or work- 

 room, and to the consternation of his household, he not 

 infrequently kept fish until they were very unpleasant, in order 

 to separate the skeleton, which he and J. M. Jones would study 

 together. He received a prize for his carefully prepared 

 skeleton of an Angler (Lophius piscatorius) and of a cod head, 

 which with his collection of West Indian shells are now in the 

 Provincial Museum. His papers on the osteology of Salmo 

 solar and Lophius piscatorius were masterly productions. 

 He published nine papers in our Transactions, all but one 

 being on the anatomy of vertebrates; but also was interested 

 in general zoology and Indians, and made a special study 

 of Icelandic literature and Norse history.. He read two 

 papers relating to Greenland and Vinland before the N. S. 

 Literary and Scientific Society of Halifax in 1865, which 

 secured his election as a member of the Royal Society of 

 Northern Antiquaries (Copenhagen), and one, "Transla- 

 tion from the French relating to the Religious Beliefs of 

 the Indians prior to the Discovery by Cabot," before the 



