288 Obituary— Walter R. Billings. 



Although palaeontology was an avocation that he actively followed 

 during only a portion of his mature life, the work which he has left 

 forms a substantial and valuable contribution to the science. 



The ancestry of Walter R. Billings on the j)aternal side was rather 

 complex, including Welsh, English, Scotch, and Irish elements. 

 His grandfather was born in Massachusetts, his grandmother in 

 New York. Braddish Billings, grandfather of Walter, was the first 

 white settler in Ottawa, where he came when there was nothing to 

 suggest the future city, which developed later over a part of the 

 1,000 acre tract of land which he acquired. Walter R. Billings was 

 a nephew of Elkanah Billings, the distinguished first palaeontologist 

 of the Canadian Geological Survey. To palaeontologists the death 

 of the nephew will recall the birthday of palaeontological science in 

 Canada, which may be said to coincide with the publication of 

 Elkanah Billings' first paper on the Cystidea. To this able and 

 remarkable man Canadian naturalists owe a debt of gratitude for 

 starting at his own expense the first magazine devoted to Natural 

 History published in Canada. 



With such a sj)onsor in E. Billings, it is small wonder that 

 palaeontology made a strong appeal to the subject of this sketch. 

 Inspired no doubt by the work of his uncle, Walter R. Billings 

 became an ardent collector of fossils. That his collections came to 

 include many rare and beautifully preserved specimens is sufficiently 

 attested by the published references to them of foreign palaeonto- 

 logists. Dr. Bather, of the British Museum, has referred to many of 

 the species collected by W. R. Billings. His generous spirit led him 

 to loan his collections freely to those j)repared to make use of them, 

 and some of his rarest specimens were presented to the British 

 Museum. 



His own published studies were confined chiefly to the Crinoidea, 

 and he is known to students of this group for his valuable work on 

 the Trenton crinoidal fauna of Ontario. 



Many important additions to the knowledge of the Crinoidea have 

 been made by Dr. Bather from studies of material collected by 

 W. R. Billings. He was always ready to place at the disposal of 

 visiting geologists his intimate knowledge of collecting localities 

 in the Ottawa district. The valuable collection of fossils left by him 

 has been presented to the Canadian Geological Survey by his sisters, 

 in accordance with his wishes. 



He was a man of broad interests and for many years took a keen 

 interest in athletics, especially in the water sports for which Ottawa 

 is noted. Many of his vacations were spent on his luxuriously 

 furnished house-boat. He represented a type of man far too rare 

 in Canada, but more common in England, who finds the time and 

 shows the ability to make worthy contributions to pure science 

 while following a profession in no way allied to the science in which 

 he delves. 



E. M. Kindle. 



