Ivi 



in India, were geological and palaeontological, though the index to his 

 original papers and compilations, published in 1862 ('Jour. Bom. 

 Br. R.A.S.,' vi, p. 231) shows that even then his contributions to 

 zoology, botany, and physiology, were more numerous than his 

 geological writings. His best known and most important papers, 

 besides that already noticed on the South-East Coast of Arabia, were 

 on the geology of Bombay and the neighbouring islands ; on the 

 Fossil Foraminifera of Sind, Cutch, &c., and, above all, the ' Sum- 

 mary of the Geology of India between the Ganges, the Indus, and 

 Cape Comorin.' In some cases, as in the ' Geology of Bombay Island,' 

 later observers have seen reasons for coming to conclusions differing 

 from those of Carter ; and his admirable attempt, in the ' Summary 

 of the Geology of India,' to classify the rock-formations of the Indian 

 Peninsula, suffered from the disadvantage that not only had he had 

 no opportunity of seeing the rocks of the greater part of the country, 

 but he had to depend on the descriptions of local observers of varying 

 geological powers, each acquainted with but a comparatively small 

 area. But no writer better deserves the respect and gratitude of 

 Indian geologists, or has contributed more effectively to the advance- 

 ment of their knowledge. His especial service to the science con- 

 sisted in his being for many years a centre of geological energy, in 

 his obtaining from many local observers and thus rescuing from 

 oblivion notes on various parts of Western India that have greatly 

 facilitated later systematic work, and in his selection and publication, 

 as editor for the Government of Bombay, of the collected ' Geological 

 Papers on Western India ' in 1857. The writer of the present notice 

 can testify to the advantage he repeatedly derived from Carter's 

 careful and conscientious compilation. 



But it is upon his researches amongst sponges and foraminifera 

 that Carter's scientific fame is mainly based. It was to the structure 

 and classification of these, and more particularly of the sponges, that 

 he devoted himself after his return to England in 1862, and his 

 papers on various members of the groups appeared uninterruptedly, 

 chiefly in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, from before 

 the date of his retirement from India to within a few years of his 

 death. His last paper, which appeared in 1889, was a " Sketch of 

 the History of known Fossil Sponges in relation to those of the 

 present day." For many years he was occupied with the description 

 and classification of the sponges in the National Collection, his aid 

 in the work having been enlisted by the late Dr. J. E. Gray. 

 Amongst other subjects he wrote on Eozoon, and was one of the 

 first to support the views of King and Bowney as to the inorganic 

 nature of that problematical fossil. He was a skilful microscopist 

 and his ability as a draughtsman enabled him to record his micro- 

 scopical observations with fidelity. Some years before his death he 



