^2 Obituary — Professor Karl A. von Zittel. 



Vienna to occupy the position of Professor of Mineralogy in the 

 Polytechnic at Carlsrnhe, but here also his sojourn was a brief one, 

 and on the death of the renowned Albert Oppel he was appointed in 

 the Autumn of 1866, at the early age of 27, to fill the vacant chair of 

 palasontology in the University of Munich, at the same time taking 

 over the charge of the State palseontological collection preserved in 

 the Old Academy. It is interesting to record that the selection of so 

 young a candidate for this important position was warmly supported 

 by C. W. von Giimbel, who, as the revered veteran among Bavarian 

 geologists, lived almost long enough to follow to its untimely 

 termination the brilliant career of the man upon whom he so 

 wisely bestowed his patronage. In 1880 the chairs of geology 

 and palaeontology became combined in the Munich University, and 

 ten years later, on the death of Schafhautl, Professor von Zittel was 

 appointed keeper of the State geological collection also. It is well 

 known with what enthusiasm he laboured in order to enlarge and 

 perfect the museum under his charge, and how far, in face of great 

 initial difficulties, he succeeded in bringing the Munich palseonto- 

 logical collection into the very first rank among similar institutions. 



It may be said that from the time of his appointment at Munich 

 Professor von Zittel's life was one of restless and fruitful activity. 

 He had already completed a monograph on the laraellibranch 

 molluscs of the Gosau beds, a memoir which amply illustrated his 

 painstaking and precise method of work, and this was followed by 

 his able and comprehensive study of the fauna and relationships of 

 the Tithonian stage (1868-1873). Various other works in the 

 field of palfeontology showed the versatility of the writer, and 

 included papers on representatives of vertebrate classes. Eesearches 

 ol a geological character resulted in the publication of a treatise on 

 the glacial phenomena of the Upper Bavarian plain (1874-1875), 

 and after accompanying the Rohlfs Expedition to the Libyan Desert 

 (1873-1874), von Zittel in 1880 produced his well-known work 

 " Ueber den geologischen Bau der Libyschen Wiiste." The fuller 

 results of his fruitful journey have appeared in the pages of 

 PalceontograpMca, and include special studies of the collections of 

 fossils obtained, the investigation of which was entrusted to several 

 collaborators, and has only been recently concluded (1883-1902). 

 In addition to his other labours Professor von Zittel, in the capacity 

 of principal editor, successfully conducted the publication of the 

 important I^aJcsontographica from the year 1869 until the time of 

 his death. 



The work by which the late Professor made his name most widely 

 known, however, was the great " Handbuch der Palaeontologie," 

 which, begun in 1876, required seventeen years of strenuous labour 

 for its preparation. An enormous amount of original investigation 

 was necessitated during the compilation of this wonderfully com- 

 plete compendium, and the most inijiortant of these incidental 

 researches, that which dealt with the classification of the sponges, 

 occupied no less than three years of the author's time, and resulted 

 in the production of a monograph of great value, which was 

 published by the Eoyal Bavarian Academy (1877-1879). The 



