1 46 Obituary Notices of Felloivs deceased. 



HENRI DE LACAZE-DUTHIERS. 18211901. 



By the death of Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers, Member of the Institute 

 of France, Zoology has lost a worker whose influence on the study of 

 marine Invertebrates it would be hard to overestimate. Not only 

 was Lacaze-Duthiers an able investigator, but he was conspicuous for 

 his success as the head of an important school where many dis- 

 tinguished zoologists have received their training, as the founder and 

 editor of the " Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et Ge"nerale," 

 and by no means least as the originator of the Marine Zoological 

 Laboratories at Roscoff, in Brittany, and Banyuls-sur-Mer, on the 

 Mediterranean coast of France. 



The key-note of Lacaze-Duthiers' work is struck in the introduction 

 to the first volume (1872) of his Journal. "Etre experimentale: 

 "tel est le caractere que doit avoir desormais la Zoologie." By 

 " experimentale " is understood something widely different from 

 investigations into " Entwickelurigsmechanik," or from those 

 which concern the breeding of new races. Thus, in discussing the 

 affinities of Laura gerardice (1882), he feels the need of further 

 information with regard to the metamorphosis of Sacculina, and 

 points out that, by accurately ascertaining the conditions under which 

 this animal lives, it may be possible to keep its young stages alive in 

 order to study their development. "II faut en un mot faire de la 

 1 zoologie experimentale.' " " Experimental zoology " is, in fact, the 

 use of morphological methods of research, combined with the study 

 of bionomics. 



Lacaze-Duthiers excelled in the art of making minute dissections. 

 In one of his latest works (1900), he deplores the fact that 

 " on ne disseque plus." The method of serial section-cutting is said 

 to be responsible for this result, and though indispensable in certain 

 cases, it replaces too often study by actual dissection. The view here 

 indicated dominates the whole of Lacaze-Duthiers' work, which in 

 spite of his practical refusal to avail himself of modern methods, 

 contains many results of great importance. 



Where so much is good it is difficult to select the best, but Lacaze- 

 Duthiers is probably most widely known for his researches on the 

 morphology of Mollusca and Ccelenterata. His earlier memoirs were 

 published in the "Annales des Sciences Naturelles," a journal which 

 he forsook for his own "Archives," from the commencement of the 

 latter in 1872. His first work of any importance appears to have 

 been the series of papers on the genital armature of Insects, pub- 

 lished in the "Annales," from 1849 to 1853, and immediately 

 followed by a treatise on Galls, which appeared in the botanical 





