yune 30, 1 881] 



NATURE 



193 



Teeth of Mammals" {Quart. /oiirn. Micros. Soc, 1872); 

 and " On the Domestic Pig in Prehistoric Times" {Trans. 

 Linn. Soc, 1877). 



Latterly he did much admirable work in anthropology, 

 for which he was excellently qualified, being one of the 

 few men who possess the culture of the antiquary, his- 

 torian, and philologist on the one hand, and of the anato- 

 mist and zoologist on the other, and could make these 

 different branches of knowledge converge upon the com- 

 plex problems of man's early history. The chief results 

 of his work of this nature are contained in his contribu- 

 tion to Greenwell's "British Barrows" (1877), a book 

 containing a fund of solid information relating to the 

 early inhabitants of this island. In this department 

 of science Prof RcUeston stood almost alone in this 

 country, and we know of no more fitting tribute which the 

 University of Oxford could pay to his memory than to 

 found a chair of anthropology, a subject in the cultiva- 

 tion of which England is fast being outstripped by every 

 other civilised nation. His last publication, and one 

 which is on the whole the most characteristic as exhi- 

 biting his vast range of knowledge on many different 

 subjects, was a lecture delivered in 1879 "it the Royal 

 Geographical Society on " The Modifications of the 

 E.xternal Aspects of Organic Nature produced by Man's 

 Interference." 



That Dr. Rolleston has not left more original scientific 

 work behind him is easily accounted for by the circum- 

 stances under which he lived at Oxford. The multi- 

 farious nature of the subjects with which the chair was 

 overweighted ; the perpetual discussions in which he 

 was engaged consequent upon the transitional condi- 

 tion of education both at Oxford and elsewhere during 

 the whole term of his office ; the immense amount of 

 business thrust upon him, or which he voluntarily under- 

 took, of the kind that always accumulates round the 

 few men who are at the same time capable and un- 

 selfish, such as questions pertaining to the local and 

 especially the sanitary affairs of the town in which he 

 lived, or connected with the reform of the medical pro- 

 fession, both in and out of the Medical Council, which 

 constantly brought him to meetings in London ; his own 

 wide grasp of interest in social subjects, and deep feeling 

 of the responsibilities of citizenship, and his sense of the 

 duties of social hospitality, which made his house always 

 open to scientific visitors to Oxford; all these rendered 

 that intense concentration requisite for carrying out any 

 continuous line of research impossible to him. 



He was often blamed for undertaking so much and 

 such diverse kinds of labour, so distracting to his scien- 

 tific pursuits ; but being by constitution a man who 

 could never see a wrong without feeling a burning desire 

 to set it right, who could never "pass by on the other 

 side" when he felt that it was in his power to help, nothing 

 but actual physical impossibility would restrain him. For 

 several years past, when feeling that his health and 

 strength did not respond to the strain he put upon them, 

 he resorted to every hygienic measure suggested but one, 

 and that the one he most required, rest ; but this he 

 never could or would take. During the last term he 

 spent at Oxford, before his medical friends positively 

 forced him (though unfortunately too htc) to give up his 

 occupations and seek change in a more genial climate, 

 he was working at the highest pressure, rising every 

 morning at six o'clock, to get two uninterrupted hours in 

 which to write the revised edition of the " Forms of 

 Animal Life" before the regular business of the day 

 commenced. 



• It is impossible for those who had no personal know- 

 ledge of Rolleston to realise what sort of a man he was, 

 and how great his loss will be to those who remain 

 behind him. No one can ever have passed an hour in 

 his company, or heard him speak at a public meeting, 

 without feeling that he was a man of most unusual 



power, of lofty sentiments, generous impulses, marvellous 

 energy, and wonderful command of language. In bril- 

 liant repartee, aptness of quotation, and ever-ready 

 illustration from poetry, history, and the literature of 

 many nations and many subjects, besides those with 

 which he was especially occupied, he had few equals. 

 "In God's war slackness is infamy" might well have 

 been his motto, for with Rolleston there was no slackness 

 in any cause which he believed to be God's war. He 

 was impetuous, even vehement, in his advocacy of what 

 appeared to him true and right, and unsparing in denun- 

 ciation of all that was mean, base, or false. To those 

 points in the faith of his fathers which he believed to be 

 essential he held reverently and courageously, but on 

 many questions, both social and political, he was a 

 reformer of the most advanced type. Often original in 

 his views, always outspoken in giving expression to them, 

 he occasionally met with the fate of those who do not 

 swim with the stream, and was misunderstood ; but this 

 was more than compensated for by the affection, admira- 

 tion, and enthusiasm with which he was regarded by those 

 who were capable of appreciating his nobility of character. 

 The loss of the example aflorded by such a nature, and of 

 his elevating influence upon younger and weaker men, is 

 to our mind a still greater loss, both within and without 

 the University in which he taught, than the loss of what 

 scientific work he might yet have performed. 



Dr. RoUeston's personal appearance corresponded with 

 his character. Of commanding height, broad-shouldered, 

 with a head of unusual size, indicating a volume of brain 

 commensurate with his intellectual power, and with 

 strongly-marked and expressive features, in which refine- 

 ment and vigour were singularly blended, in him we saw 

 Just such a man as was described by the public orator at 

 the late Oxford Commemoration, in words with which we 

 may conclude this notice — " Virum excultissimi ingenii, 

 integritatis incorruptissimae, veritatis amicum, et pro- 

 pugnatorem impavidum." \V. H. F. 



THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S 

 INSECTARIUM 



IN our notice of this recent addition to the Regent's 

 Park collection {antca, vol. xxiv. p. 38) we regret to 

 find we have made an error in the name of the curator of 

 the Insectarium. Mr. IVi/Uam Watkins (not E. VVatkins 

 as there given) has made many good additions to the 

 collection of living insects under his charge since we last 

 wrote, and attracts a host of visitors every day to inspect 

 his living wonders. In a report on the Insectarium read 

 at a recent scientific meeting of the Zoological Society by 

 the secretary, Mr. Watkins gave the subjoined account of 

 the progress of the development of the large moths of the 

 family Bombycidas during the month of May. 



Glover's Silk-moth {Samia Gloveri). — Specimens of 

 this species emerged almost daily through the month, and 

 fertile eggs were obtained, which hatched on the 12th 

 instant. The larvae when hatched are a shining black, 

 with numerous spines of the same colour ; after the first 

 change, which took place in six days, they assume a 

 yellowish colour ; at the second moult they become green 

 with paler coloured spines, each tipped with bright red. 

 A choice of many shrubs were given them, but although 

 they ate plum and sallow they left these for gooseberry. 



Cecroplan Silk-moth (jr(;«//.rGvr(7//(0. — This species 

 emerged through the month, and copulation was frequent. 

 A large number of eggs were obtained, but many are not 

 fertile, perhaps owing to the stock already having been 

 interbred. Young larva; hatched on the 14th instant, 

 and are growing well. Food-plant, plum. 



AiLANTHUS Silk-Moth {Attacus C_yni/iia).— This 

 species commenced to emerge towards the end of the 

 month, but only four specimens have yet appeared. It is 

 usudly the latest species of all. 



