Dec. 4, 1884] 



NA TURE 



hands, had been cast on one side, reduced to fi 



and finally buried in the concrete foundation of the new 



no one supposing that the discovery represented anything more 



than some modem interment. 



n one of the skeletons complete 

 and in situ, extended at full length, face downwards, in the clay, 

 while I succeeded in gathering a basketful of bones, including 

 fragments of four left-hand femora, thus, probably, attesting the 

 presence of more individuals than the number to which the 

 workmen deposed. 



Some of these bones I extracted from the clay itself, the re- 

 mainder being found among the excavators' ejecta. Almost all 

 of them are broken and have their cavities, even the spongy 

 tissues and diploe of the cranium, completely filled with the clay 

 in which they were discovered. They are easily broken into 

 fragments by hand, have little organic matter remaining in them, 

 lions of having been gnawed by animals. 



The clay-bed itself showed no signs of disturbance 

 would indicate a burial. On the contrary, it was - 

 the bones had been quietly covered with river deposits as they 

 lay, and, although near each other, the skeletons did m 

 a common resting-place. 



The remains occurred at a depth of 5 feet 6 inches below the 

 surface, 36 feet above Ordnance Datum, and 3 feet above the 

 highest known modern flood-line, given on the authority of Mr. 

 Martin, engineer to the Severn Navigation Commissioners. 



It is clear, therefore, that the clay-bed in question must have 

 been deposited at a time when the River Severn ran, and its 

 flood-loams were laid down, at levels higher by many feet than 

 those of the present day, or, in other words, at some time ante- 

 cedent to the historic period, during which there is no 

 suppose that our rivers ever met the sea except at existing 

 horizons. Daniel Fidgeon 



Holmwood, Putney Hill, November 22 



Fly-Maggots Feeding on Caterpillars 



AFTER Mr. McLachlan's remarks in Nature for November 



20 (p. 54), on Dr. Bonavia's note upon the above subject, it is 

 hardly necessary to say that your correspondent, F. N. Pierce 

 (November 27, p. 82) is undoubtedly mistaken in saying that he 

 has bred the house-fly, Musca donustica, from Lepidopterous 

 larva;. If he has really bred Musca domeslica, it is a new fact, 

 and I should be very glad to see a specimen. I have had 

 some considerable experience in breeding Lepidoptera, and have 

 frequently bred out Dipterous parasites ; these have invariably 

 been Tachinids, mostly of the genus Exorista. To the ordinary 

 observer they very closely resemble Musca domestica, but the 

 same observer would very probably call all the various species of 

 Musca, Anthomyia, Homalomyia, Stomoxys, &c, which fre- 

 quently occur in houses, "house-flies." The general appear- 

 ance of many of these genera is very much the same, and the 

 term " house-fly " is such a vague one that I remember a good 

 inicroscopist once showed me a slide labelled "upper and lower 

 wing of house-fly" ! some Hymenopteron caught on a window 

 apparently furnishing the materials. 



The Diptera are unfortunately much neglected in this country, 

 and many groups are very little known. This is especially the 

 case with the Tachininee, and Lepidopterists who breed them 

 would benefit science by pinning the specimens and sending 

 them to one or other of the few students of this order of insects. 



4, East Street, Lewes, November 29 J. H. A. Jenner 



Your correspondent, Mr. F. N. Pierce, in Nature for 

 November 27 (p. 82) merely continues the error suggested by Dr. 

 Bonavia's note on this subject. It is not the larva: of the house- 

 fly (Musca domistica) that he has found as parasites on his 

 butterfly and moth caterpillars, but the larva; of a Tachina, a 

 Dipterous genus of the Muscidce, too well known among even 

 mere collectors, I should have thought, for such a mistake to be 

 made. There is of course a superficial resemblance. 



M. E. S. 



The Forbes Memorial 



May I make use of your widely circulated pages to say that 



I purpose in a few days to send to press a list of the subscribers 



to the Forbes Memorial, to be bound up with the issue of the 



zoological memoirs of our lamented friend; the Memorial 



Volume is now nearly ready, and I shall be glad to hear from 

 any of the friends of Mr. W. A. Forbes who have not already 

 communicated with me on the subject. May I add that it was 



I die Committee that subscribers should recen 

 ot the volume for every guinea subscribed. 



F. Jeffrey P.fi i 

 5. Radnor PI. a Square, W. 



THOMAS WRIGHT, M.D., F.R.S. 



T T is perhaps hardly sufficiently recognised how much 

 the progress of science has been helped by the leisure- 

 hour occupations of busy professional men. No branch 

 of science has profited more from this source than 

 geology, and no calling has furnished so many helpful 

 labourers as medicine. The career of Dr. Wright, whose 

 recent death is so sincerely regretted, supplies one of the 

 most notable examples of a life apparently absorbed in 

 the laborious duties of a medical practitioner, yet wherein 

 time was found for the pursuit of a long series of original 

 and valuable researches in palaeontology. To those who 

 knew him only as a doctor, it might well seem that his 

 whole time and thought were given to the duties of his 

 medical practice. Those, on the other hand, who met 

 him as a geologist and palaeontologist could hardly 

 realise that he had any other occupation than the 

 study of the fossils wdiich he treasured and described 

 with such enthusiasm. 



Dr. Wright was born in Paisley in 1809. Having a 

 near relative engaged in the practice of medicine, he 

 chose the same profession for himself, and received the 

 earlier part of his education at Glasgow. Before he had 

 completed his studies, he was induced to quit medicine 

 and take part in the development of the manufacturing 

 arts, then making rapid strides in Scotland. But finding 

 the change unsuited for his temperament he turned back 

 with a sense of relief to the profession he had abandoned, 

 resumed his medical studies in Dublin, and finally 

 graduated in 1S46. Soon thereafter, circumstances led 

 him to settle in Cheltenham, where he has since spent 

 the whole of his long and honoured life. His devotion to 

 the healing art, and his bent towards a scientific treat- 

 ment of his subject, were soon recognised, and he became 

 successively attached to the Dispensary and General 

 Hospital, and finally Medical Officer of Health for 

 Cheltenham and surrounding districts. He was twice 

 married, and leaves a son and two daughters by the 

 second marriage. 



In the early days of his career Dr. Wright manifested 

 his love for scientific investigation. While still a student 

 in Dublin he devoted himself with ardour to the study of 

 human anatomy, and especially to the application of 

 microscopic research in that department of inquiry. His 

 eyesight, however, not proving strong enough to bear the 

 strain of microscopic work, he finally exchanged that 

 pursuit for the cultivation of palaeontology, wdiich from 

 the position of Cheltenham in the midst of richly fossili- 

 ferous rocks, lay temptingly open to him. Ranging over 

 the abundant organic remains of the Lias and Oolites of 

 his neighbourhood, he chose the Echinoderms as his 

 special subject, and began to publish the results of his 

 observations. His early papers gained for him the friend- 

 ship and co-operation of Edward Forbes. It was arranged 

 that the two naturalists should conjointly describe the 

 Echinoderms of the British Secondary formations, Forbes 

 taking the Cretaceous, and Wright the Jurassic forms. 

 The former did not live to carry out his part of the pro- 

 gramme, which was accordingly completed by his col- 

 league. The monographs on the Secondary Echinoderms 

 were published by the Palaeontographical Society, and 

 form an enduring monument of Dr. Wright's patient and 

 minute research. But while engaged in these investiga- 

 tions, he did not neglect other departments of Jurassic 

 palaeontology. In particular, he devoted himself with 



