XX11 



Although it was chiefly among the lower forms of animal life and 

 the Cetacea that Van Beneden came before the world as an original 

 observer, a glance at the long list of his published memoirs (more 

 than two hundred in number) show that subjects from various other 

 groups occasionally engaged his attention and his pen, and he was 

 also the joint author, with Paul Gervais, of a general work, in two 

 volumes, on Medical Zoology, published in 1859. 



Any notice of Van Beneden would be incomplete without reference 

 to his high character and remarkably courteous and agreeable 

 manners. He was gentle, modest, kind and considerate to others, 

 and much beloved by all who knew him intimately, as the writer of 

 this notice had many opportunities of observing, both in his own 

 family circle at Louvain and on many visits which he paid to 

 England, during which he was always a most welcome guest. 

 Though he remained to the end a devoted son of the Church in 

 which he had been brought up, he always showed the widest tolera- 

 tion for the views of others. The meetings of the British Association 

 had a special attraction for him, and, more than once, he brought 

 original communications before them. His last visit to this country 

 was on the occasion of the tercentenary celebration of the University 

 of Edinburgh in 1884, when he was the recipient of the honorary 

 degree of LL.D. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal 

 Society in 1875, and was also on the list of foreign members of the 

 Linnean, Geological, and Zoological Societies of London. He was 

 President of the Royal Belgian Academy in 1881, and on the 

 occasion of his jubilee in 1886, was nominated Grand Officer of the 

 Order of Leopold. He has left a large family of daughters and one 

 son, Edward, Professor of Zoology in the University of Liege, who 

 has already acquired a reputation in science which bids fair to equal, 

 if not surpass, that of his father. 



W. H. F. 



