February i i, 1909] 



NA TURE 



43: 



while geology is represented by a geological hammer 

 on >ome rocks in the foreground, and by a volcano 

 in the distance. 



The medal is to be awarded from time to time to 

 persons who have made some notable contribution in 

 connection with the zoology, botany, and geology of 

 New Zealand; save in exceptional circumstances it 

 is not to be awarded oftener than once in three years, 

 and the recipient must have received the greater part 

 of his education in New Zealand, or have resided in 

 New Zealand for not less than ten years. 



The remainder of the fund has been invested, and 

 the interest on it may be used by the institute for 

 making grants to persons who require assistance in 

 connection with researches in New Zealand's natural 

 history. 



Communications with regard to the fund may be 

 addressed to the secretary of the New Zealand Insti- 

 tute, Wellington, or to 'Dr. Chas. Chilton, Canter- 

 bury College, who acted as hon. treasurer until the 

 fund w;is handed over to the institute. 



Tf. H. HUDLESTON. F.R.S. 



A\^E have to deplore the death, in his eighty-first 

 » > vear, of Wilfrid Hudleston Hudleston, one of 

 the most distinguished of British geologists, whose 

 combined knowledge of the main branches of the 

 science, palaeontological, stratigraphical, petrological 

 and chemical, was unsurpassed. 



Born at York, on June 2, 1828, he was the son of 

 Dr. lohn Simpson, of Knaresborough (who married 

 Elizabeth Ward, heiress of the Hudlestons of 

 Cumberland), and he assumed the name of Hudleston, 

 by letters patent, in 1867. 



.\fter receiving education in schools at York and 

 I'ppingham, he entered St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridgeT and graduated B.A. in 1850. His attention 

 was directed to geology during his last term at college, 

 when he was present at a course of Sedgwick's 

 lectures, but some years elapsed before his interest 

 was concentrated on that subject. The study of 

 law had engrossed much of his time, and he was 

 called to the Bar in 1853, but never practised. 



Possessed of independent means, he spent the earlier 

 vears of manhood in travel in various parts of Europe 

 and northern Africa. He was ever a keen sportsman, 

 and the subject of ornithology attracted him, 

 probablv through his friendship with the late Alfred 

 Newton, whom he accompanied on a visit to Lapland. 

 Thus it was that he became one of the founders 

 of the British Ornithologists' Union ; and on 

 December 9 of last year he attended a special meeting, 

 held in the rooms of the Zoological Society, to cele- 

 brate the jubilee of the Union, w'hen a gold medal 

 was presented to him in honour of the occasion. 



.\t the age of thirty-four, Mr. Hudleston decided to 

 qualify himself for research work in natural science 

 by courses of instruction which he undertook at 

 Edinburgh, and afterwards at the Royal College of 

 Chemistry in London. His ultimate career was deter- 

 mined in 1866, when he was introduced to John 

 -Morris, professor of geology in University College, 

 London. An absorbing interest in geology was 

 aroused by that enthusiastic and gifted teacher, and 

 Mr. Hudleston became a Fellow of the Geological 

 Society in 1867, and joined the Geologists' Association 

 in 1S71. To the latter body he gave energetic service 

 for a number of years, being chosen honorary secre- 

 tary in 1874, and president in i88i ; and he con- 

 ducted a number of notable excursions, his reports 

 on which contain much original information. 



The list of his geological publications commences 

 in 1872, and among the more important are a series 



NO. 2050, VOL. 79] 



of papers on the Yorkshire Oolites, and others on the 

 Gasteropoda of the Oolites, published in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Geologists' Association and in the 

 Geological Magazine. 



In 1877, in conjunction with the late J. F. Blake, 

 he communicated to the Geological Society a memoir 

 on "The Corallian Rocks of England," giving full 

 particulars of these fossiliferous strata from Dorset 

 to Yorkshire. It is sufficient to say that this paper 

 is to be regarded as one of the geological classics. 



In 1892, with the cooperation of the late Edward 

 Wilson, he published " A Catalogue of British 

 Jurassic Gasteropoda," a work embodying all the 

 critical knowledge of the writers. His chief work, 

 one on which he was engaged for more than twenty 

 years, was his " Monograph on the Gasteropoda of 

 the Inferior Oolite," published by the Palseonto- 

 graphical Society (1887-1896). 



Mr. Hudleston, who served for several years as 

 secretarv of the Geological Society, was elected presi- 

 dent in 1892 ; and he was awarded the Wollaston 

 medal in 1897, soon after the completion of his great 

 work on the Gasteropoda. 



Apart from his detailed investigations, Mr. 

 Hudleston was the author of numerous essays, which 

 afford abundant evidence of his shrewd criticism and 

 sound judgment, with not a little dry humour. 

 Among these articles may be mentioned those on the 

 geologv of Palestine, on the Tanganyika problem, 

 on the eastern margin of the North Atlantic Basin, 

 on Indian geology, and on the geological history of 

 iron ores. 



Mr. Hudleston was elected a Fellow of the Royal 

 Societv in 1884. He was one of the founders of the 

 Malacological Society, was president of Section C 

 of the British Association at Bristol in 189S, and was 

 president at times of several provincial natural 

 history societies. In later years, when he acquired 

 a country residence at West Holme, near Wareham, in 

 Dorset, he took an active part in the proceedings 

 of the Dorset Natural History Field Club. He investi- 

 gated in detail the structure of Creechbarrow Hjll, 

 near ^^■areham, and only last year published an 

 important paper on some well-sections in connection 

 with the local water-supply. He died at his Dorset 

 home on January 29. A biography of him, to which 

 we are indebted for many of the above particulars, 

 appeared in the Geological Magazine for September, 

 1904, accompanied by an excellent portrait and a list 

 of publications. H. B. W. 



NOTES. 



Dr. Horace T. Brown, F.R.S., and Sir David Bruce. 

 C.B., F.R.S. , have been elected members of the 

 .'\thenrEum Club under the provisions of the rule which 

 empowers the election of persons " of distinguished 

 eminence in science, literature, the arts, or for public 

 services." 



We learn from the Pioneer Mail that Sir T. H. Holland, 

 P'.R.S., director of the Geological Survey of India, may 

 be expected to arrive in England on leave during the 

 coming summer preparatory to retirement, as he proposes 

 to accept the offer of the chair of geology at Manchester 

 University vacated by Prof. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. 



The honorary secretaries of the meeting of the British 

 Association to be held in Winnipeg from .August 25 to 

 September i of this year are Mr. C. N. Bell, Mr. W. 

 Sanford Evans (Mayor), Prof. M. A. Parker, and Prof. 

 Swale Vincent. The office of the secretaries has been 

 organised in the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 

 Canada. 



