240 Obituary— Professor Neumayr. 



he confine himself to the Invertebrates, for he wrote more than once 

 on the Mammalia. Neumayr's knowledge of the Jurassic fauna and 

 geology was exceptionally wide, and upon it was based the brilliant 

 generalizations as to the zoological regions and climatic zones of that 

 period, which mark out the series of papers commenced under the 

 title of " Jura-studien " as his masterpiece. The " Stiimme des 

 Thierreichs " was the last of his larger works, and of this only one 

 volume has been issued : in this he dealt with the Protozoa, 

 Ccelenterata, Echinodermata, Vermes, and Molluscoidea, treating 

 each group with a master-hand and in an original method. The 

 second volume would have been even better, for if Neumayr could 

 be charged with being a specialist, it would have been in connection 

 with two of the classes there to have been discussed. He also 

 projected an " Index Palaeontologicus " ; but this with many other 

 plans of his has been frustrated by his death. 



But though it may be convenient to group his work under these 

 three divisions, Neumayr was too true a palaeontologist for any rigid 

 classification to be possible on such lines. Palaeogeography was 

 with him inseparably connected with palaeontology, and his work 

 on the former subject compelled him to keep abreast with the 

 progress in other branches of geological work. Neumayr did not 

 regard palaeontology as a mere branch of zoology, and, keen evolu- 

 tionist though he was, fossils had for him a higher value than that 

 which they possess from their bearing on the origin of the existing 

 fauna. He was, of course, interested in this aspect of the question, 

 and probably no better work has been done in tracing descent 

 among the invertebrates than his " Herkunft der Unionen " and his 

 " Die naturliche Verwandtschaftsverhaltnisse der schalentragenden 

 Foraminiferen." But it would be unjust to Neumayr to regard him 

 as a phylogenist alone, or to attach most value to his work in this 

 field : the most original work in his " Stamme " was his reclassifica- 

 tion of the Crinoidea, which marked a great advance when the 

 compositor set it up ; but it was out of date before the sheets had 

 left the press. His discoveries in other subjects are of much more 

 permanent value, and it is probably for these that he will be best 

 remembered. He has, in fact, been recently described as a 

 " palaeogeographer " rather than a palaeontologist, but this he would 

 probably have regarded as a slurring limitation on his favourite 

 branch of science. Neumayr's qualifications for the discussion of 

 questions of the physical geography of the past were simply unique, 

 and it is probably here that he will be most missed. Considering the 

 powerful work of his early manhood, still more brilliant achieve- 

 ments might have been expected from the efforts of his maturer 

 years. But the heart disease that had so long afflicted him struck 

 him clown in the very prime of life, just when his mastery of 

 Jurassic palaeontology, his thorough acquaintance with stratigraphical 

 literature and his sound knowledge of the principles of physical 

 geology, seemed most in demand for the solution of the problems 

 that he knew so well how to handle. 



