Obvituary—JTames William Davis. 429 
remembered by his numerous contributions to Fossil Ichthyology. 
The fish-remains discovered in the Yorkshire coal-field early attracted 
his attention and excited his interest; and after making the acquaint- 
ance of the late Harl of Enniskillen and Sir Philip Egerton at the 
Belfast Meeting of the British Association in 1874, he began the 
study of extinct fishes in earnest. He visited Florence Court and 
Oulton Park, where he was always a welcome guest, to study the 
great Enniskillen and Egerton Collections, subsequently acquired 
by the British Museum. He also travelled extensively abroad, and 
the present writer will always treasure the most pleasant recol- 
lections of several journeys in the company of Mr. Davis to the 
museums of Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, 
Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. He made copious notes and 
drawings of fossil fishes in all these museums, and many of them 
were afterwards utilized in his publications. His first researches on 
the Carboniferous fish-remains soon extended to the fossils of later 
formations, notably those of the Lias and the Chalk; and since 1883 
he had published a series of large memoirs in the Transactions of 
the Royal Dublin Society. 
Mr. Davis’ work in Fossil Ichthyology bears many indications 
of the difficulties under which it was produced. The investi- 
gations, it must be admitted, were not always thorough; and 
the results are not always so concisely and accurately expressed, 
with such evidence of a fulness of knowledge of the subject as a 
trained professional specialist would desire. We are happy to say, 
however, British science is still far from being under the control of 
a narrow professional monopoly, and long may this freedom remain. 
Mr. Davis has, even under the most difficult circumstances, been 
one of the largest contributors to our knowledge of fossil fishes 
during the last 20 years. His larger memoirs are exquisitely 
illustrated, as are also several of the smaller ones; and where he 
-has fallen into errors he has done much for progress by rousing 
up other workers to correct them. 
While investigating the fishes of the Yorkshire Coal-field, he 
made a very large collection in a more systematic manner than 
had previously been attempted; and Mr. Davis’ writings contain 
more information concerning the remains of the sharks of the Coal- 
measures than is to be found elsewhere. His memoir on “The 
Fossil Fishes of the Carboniferous Limestone Series of Great Britain” 
(1883) is the only extended, illustrated account of the Hlasmobranch 
teeth: and spines of the Lower Carboniferous Rocks, and is based 
chiefly on the Enniskillen Collection. His subsequent memoir on 
the Cretaceous Fishes of the Lebanon contains a wealth of new 
matter, and marks a very valuable advance, notwithstanding all 
unfavourable criticisms that have been passed upon it. His further 
writings on the Cretaceo-Tertiary fishes of New Zealand and on 
the Cretaceous fishes of Scandinavia are pioneer monographs, dealing 
almost exclusively with untouched materials. Finally, Mr. Davis’ 
latest work on the fish-remains of the British Coal-Measures, of 
which only one part has been issued, promised to bring together 
