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OBITUARY. 



Col. L. Worthington-Wilmer, 1838-1923. 



It is with deep regret that we liave to record tlie death of 

 Lieut.-Col. Lewis Worthington-Wilmer, one of the original members 

 of our Society, which took place at his residence in the Isle of Wight 

 on the 8th January of this year, in his 85th year. 



He was born at Naples on 25th September, 1838, receiving his 

 education at Cheltenham College and afterwards obtaining a com- 

 mission in the 90th Light Infantry, now the Cameronians, at the early 

 age of 17. In due course he proceeded to India, and fought with 

 distinction in some of the noted engagements of that time, being 

 present throughout the Mutiny campaign of 1857-8, including the 

 Eelief of Lucknow under Sir Colin Campbell, and the later operations 

 at Oude directed by Sir James Outram. 



During his long period of retirement from the Army he was 

 actively engaged, almost to the last, in many and varied pursuits, 

 taking a considerable interest in Conservative propaganda, the 

 Primrose League, and the League of Mercy, whilst in the late war he 

 did much recruiting work, besides serving on the military tribunal. 

 He will, however, be long remembered by his scientific friends as an 

 excellent all-round field naturalist, being more ardently devoted 

 perhaps to the study of conchology than to the other groups of 

 animal life. 



During his travels to various parts of the world he amassed 

 a considerable collection of both recent and fossil shells, and was ever 

 most generous in presenting some of his best material to both 

 British and American museums. Notwithstanding such with- 

 drawals, his son. Major G. E. Worthington-Wilmer, informs the 

 writer that the collection of recent shells at the present time numbers 

 something like 40,000 specimens. When on military duty in the 

 Andaman Islands he dredged many marine shells, which he gave 

 to the British Museum, these being described and figured by the late 

 E. A. Smith in 1878, one of the new forms receiving the name of 

 Pleurotoma wilmeri. He had a considerable acquaintance with the 

 geology of the West Indies, gained from a study of the Tertiary 

 faunas of that region, making most interesting collections on his 

 difierent visits, especially from the Panama country and Jamaica, 

 his fossils being presented to the Geological Department of the British 

 Museum. Coming nearer home, it should be mentioned that he 

 obtained a sound knowledge of the geology of the Isle of Wight, 

 being chiefly interested in the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) rocks 

 developed at Sandown Bay, where on and ofi for some years he 

 collected many moUuscan and other remains which were, also, 

 given to the National Collection. * 



A specimen representing a large cephalopod, Crioceras howerhanki, 



