i6o /// Mciuon'am — William Nelson. 



to build the superstructures, more or less elaborate, which 

 summarise the labours ot man}' workers. 



Our deceased friend was one of those lovable persons whose 

 influence is magnetic and whose enthusiasm is largely instru- 

 mental in drawing others into the field, and in this way it is to 

 him in great measure that is owing the making of many 

 proselytes, and the foundation of various societies, and of one 

 periodical. 



Born in Leeds about 70 years ago, he learnt early to observe 

 and to study the shells, the plants, the insects, and the birds 

 of the eastern outskirts of the town, and in 1862 he was mainly 

 instrumental in founding the East End Naturalists' Society, the 

 lineal forerunner of the present Leeds Naturalists' Club. 



A currier by trade, he left Leeds about 1865 and settled in 

 Birmingham for about seven or eight years, taking an active 

 interest in the natural history of that town, the results of his 

 work there being embodied in a published paper on ' The 

 LinDucidcc of Birmingham.' 



It was not long after his return to Leeds that he — with three 

 other conchologists — helped to found and was the first president 

 of the Leeds Conchological Club, which afterwards, by a some- 

 what natural process of evolution, became what is now the 

 Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. The first 

 president, he at various times filled all the other offices, and 

 always continued to take a prominent part in the proceedings 

 until the Society's headquarters .were removed to Manchester. 

 The Leeds Conchological Club thereupon resumed its seperate 

 existence, and in its proceedings and work Mr. Nelson con- 

 tinued to join till near his end. 



In 1892 he was elected one of the ten Honorary Members of 

 the Conchological Society. He was one of the compilers of its 

 Official Catalogue of the British Land and Freshwater Mollusca. 



He was not, however, a prolific writer, and his scientific 

 papers were but few in number. His excessive caution, 

 amounting almost to timidity and to distrust of his own judg- 

 ment, deterred him from publishing until he should feel that lie 

 had completely verified and confirmed all his data. 



His scattered records and field notes were, however, more 

 numerous, and it was in such papers as the ' Extracts from a 

 Conchologist's Note-book,' which appeared at intervals in the 

 Naturalist from 1891 to about 1900, that his literary st\ le most 

 appropriately manifested itself, and levealed the true inward 

 bent of his mind. 



Natnraltst, 



