March 2, 1905J 



NA TURE 



419 



tell, and his book may be regarded as a guide to 

 what the observant country resident ought to see and 

 notice, rather than as an exponent of fresh facts. In 

 places, indeed, he forsakes his usual style for what 

 we suppose must be called " word-painting," but 

 we can scarcely congratulate him on the result of 

 the change. Neither, we think, is he altogether 

 happy in his theory that bird-song is largely due to 

 rivalry and jealousy; although his eagerness to trace 

 out the reason of 'every phenomenon in natural life 

 is a trait deserving of the highest commendation. 

 The reader who follows in Mr. Robinson's foot- 



The Country Day by Day 



steps and takes him as guide will not have much to 

 learn about the animals and plants of his native 

 district after a year's diligent apprenticeship. 



R. L. 



PROF. G. B. HOWES, F.R.S. 



GEORGE BOND HOWES, whose state of health 

 for the past two years had been the cause of 

 grave anxietv, passed away on February 4. Born in 

 London on September 7, 1853, his active and useful 

 life was cut short at the age of fifty-one. 



Howes was of Huguenot extraction ; his father, the 

 late T. J. Howes, married the daughter of the 

 late Captain G. H. Bond — a member of a 

 talented family. While attending a private school 

 he spent his spare time in making microscopical 

 slides, and a prize of one of J. G. Wood's books 

 helped to arouse further his interest in natural history. 

 His parents at first intended that he should prepare 

 for entering the Church, but this plan was given up, 

 and on leaving school he was for a short time in 

 business, which proved very distasteful to him. 

 Having worked out the anatomy of the house-fly, 

 made careful drawings of his preparations, and given 

 a lecture on the subject, his talent was recognised 

 by a friend of the family — a clergyman — who intro- 

 duced him to Mr. Walter White, then secretary to 

 the Royal Society. Through Mr. White's instru- 

 mentality an introduction was obtained to Prof. 

 Huxley, and this resulted in an appointment under 

 the Science and Art Department. 



NO. i8<^4, VOL 71] 



A short time previously, Huxley, assisted by T. J. 

 Parker, had begun to organise his pioneer practical 

 classes in biology at South Kensington, and Howes's 

 first scientific work consisted in making a series of 

 enlarged coloured drawings illustrating the anatomy 

 of various animals, and thus further developing his 

 powers as a draughtsman. These drawings now 

 form the well known series hanging on the walls of 

 the laboratory at the Royal College of Science, copies 

 of which were subsequently made by Howes for use 

 in various universities and colleges in this country 

 and abroad. Although he had no previou* scientific 

 training, he rapidly became 

 an expert anatomist, and 

 many of his exquisite dissec- 

 tions are still to be seen on 

 the shelves of the laboratory. 

 All this time, Howes was 

 taking every advantage of 

 his opportunities for study- 

 ing under our greatest bio- 

 logical teacher in a school 

 of high tradition, where 

 students are able to devote 

 themselves to one subject 

 at a time, and are fortunate 

 ill being unhampered by 

 syllabuses. He was soon 

 appointed assistant demon- 

 strator, and on Parker's 

 election to the chair of biology 

 in the University of Otago, 

 Howes succeeded him as 

 chief demonstrator, so that his 

 originality, zeal, and en- 

 thusiasm' had full scope for 

 development. The wide 

 knowledge he gradually ob- 

 tained of his subject, his 

 valuable contributions to 

 zoological literature, and 

 more especially his power 

 and influence as a teacher, soon made it apparent 

 that he was to take an important place m the 

 scientific world. On Huxley's partial retirement in 

 18&? Howes was appointed assistant professor, 

 and in 1895— when the chair of biology was sub- 

 divided—professor of zoology. During his career as 

 demonstrator, he had also for two years held the post 

 of lecturer on comparative anatomy to the St. George b 

 Hospital Medical School. . , ,, ■ . c 



In 1897, Howes was elected to the fellowship ot 

 the Royal Society. He was a vice-president of the 

 Zoologi'cal Societ'v, honorary zoological secretary to 

 the Linnean Society, honorary treasurer of the 

 Anatomical Society, ex-president of the Malacological 

 Society, president 'of Section D of the British Associ- 

 ation at the Belfast meeting, corresponding member 

 of the New York Academy of Science,^ and an 

 honorary member of the New Zealand Institute. He 

 also too'k an active interest in the work o'' several 

 locai natural history societies, of which he was a 

 member. In 1902 he acted on the committee for the 

 reorganisation of the Zoological Gardens, and in the 

 same year received the degree of D.Sc, honons 

 causa in the Victoria Universitv, having previously 

 —in '1898— received that of LL.D. at St. Andrews. 

 He had held examinerships in several universities, 

 e.g. London, Oxford, Victoria, and New Zealand. 



The veneration and affection which Howes felt for 

 his great chief were unbounded, and apparent in all 

 his work, to carry on which on the lines laid down 

 by Huxley was the summit of his ambition. 

 ' His publications are too numerous to be mentioned 

 in detail; they consist of some fifty papers and 



