Obituary — Rev. John Gunn. 331 



sidered in detail, and the mode of occurrence of the Awaruite in 

 them and in the sands derived from their denudation is discussed. 

 The author submits a sketch-map of the localities where the mineral 

 has been discovered in sand, including not only George Eiver, but 

 also Silver Creek, Red Hill, and other localities, and quotes Mr. 

 Paulin's belief that it occurs diffused through the whole extent 

 of peridotite and serpentine rocks, and infereutially in the drifts 

 derived therefrom. 



OBITTJAEY- 



JOHN GUNN, M.A., F.G.S., 



Formerly Sector of Irstead and Barton Turf, in Norfolk.. 

 Born October 9th, 1801 ; Died May 28th, 1890. 



By the death of Mr. John Gunn. geological science has lost one 

 of her most devoted and enthusiastic disciples. Born October 9th, 

 1801, he lived to the advanced age of 88, and was thus one of 

 the last links between the geologists of the present day and those 

 who laid the foundations of the science. 



His father, the Rev. William Gunn, Rector of Irstead and Barton 

 Turf, in Norfolk, was a man of considerable literary attainments, 

 and more especially devoted to History and Archaeology, but taking 

 very little interest in the pursuit of Natural Science. 



In an address delivered to the Norwich Geological Society in 

 1869, John Gunn thus speaks of his early years : — " When at school 

 he was more interested in Natural History than in the Latin Grammar, 

 and his father put the books he was most anxious to study at the 

 top of the library, so that they might be out of his reach. He, 

 however, took every convenient opportunity to get at a volume of 

 Buffon, and thus he gathered some knowledge respecting the habits 

 and the habitat of animals. He could never forget, and he could 

 not describe the electric effect produced upon him by the discovery 

 of the fossil remains of the Elephant. Rhinoceros, and Hippopotamus 

 in the Forest Bed at Happisburgh, etc. He then asked his father 

 how these creatures, now living in tropical countries, could have 

 existed in this ? A.nd he received an answer which was still fresh 

 in his memory, and which constantly recurred to him. ' There is 

 much to be done before that can be made out.' " ' This question 

 probably was put about the year 1822, when R. C. Tavlor published 

 his account of Fossil Bones on the Coast of East Norfolk. It must 

 have been soon after this date that John Gunn made the acquaint- 

 ance of Samuel Woodward, from whom he derived his earliest lessons 

 in geology ; moreover his local researches were no doubt stimulated 

 by intercourse with his neighbours, the Rev. James Layton, of Cat- 

 field, and Miss Anna Gurney, of North Repps, both of whom became 

 ardent collectors of the fossil mammalia from the Forest Bed. 



On the death of his father in 1841, John Gunn, who had been 



1 " Norwich Mercury," Feb. 10, 1869. 



