Eminent Living Geologists — Dr. R. H. Traqnair, F.R.S. 245 



and his monograph (Palseoutographical Society) of the British genera 

 and species of the family is now all but complete. 



Dr. Traquair commenced the sj'stematic study of the fishes of the 

 Old Ked Sandstone in 1887, and found their nomenclature in much 

 need of rectification. He pointed out how that Agassiz and M'Coy 

 had, misled by appearances dependent on different conditions of 

 preservation, most unnecessarily multiplied the number of supposed 

 species, e.g. he reduced six supposed species of Cheirolepis to a single 

 one ! Our knowledge of the genera and species of British Carboniferous 

 Palseoniscidse (on a monograph of which he is still engaged) is 

 principally due to his work. He was the first to figure and to 

 describe in detail the Lower Devonian fishes of Gemiinden in AYestern 

 Germany. His papers on that subject contain a complete account, 

 fully illustrated, of the remarkable mailed fish, the Lrepanaspis 

 GemUndenetisis of Schliiter, which was previously very imperfectly 

 known. It must also be added that he has produced a great many 

 restorations of fossil fishes for the illustration of his papers, and these 

 have been freely copied in all modern textbooks of geology and of 

 palaeontology. 



Dr. Traquair has received many well-deserved honours, and the 

 thoroughness and value of his published work are universally acknow- 

 ledged. He was elected a Fellow of the Koyal Society of London in 

 1881, and received the Honorary Degree of LL.D. from the University 

 of Edinburgh in 1 893. He was awarded the Xeill Medal of the lloyal 

 Society of Edinburgh in 1878, and the MakDougall-Brisbane Medal of 

 the same Society in 1901 ; the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society 

 of London in 1901 ; and a Royal Medal of the Royal Society of 

 London in 1907. He is esteemed both abroad and at home as the 

 doyen of paleeichthyology and the pioneer in its modern methods, 

 and it is the fervent wish of his many friends that he may long be 

 spared in his retirement to pursue the studies which he has so greatly 

 adorned. 



LIST OF SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 



1862. " On the Occurrence of Trilobites in the Carboniferous Limestone of 



Fifeshire " : Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin., vol. ii, pp. 253-4. 



1863. "Note on an Abnormality in the Ossification of the Parietal Bone in the 



Human Foetus" : Nat. Hist. Review, pp. 132-3, woodcut. 



1865. " Observations on the Development of the Pleuronectidte " ; Proc. Roy. Phys. 



Soc. Edin., vol. iii, pp. 215-22. 



1866. " On the Asymmetry of tlie Pleuronectidie as elucidated by an examination of 



the Skeleton in the Turbot, Halibut, and Plaice" : "Trans. Linn. Soc, 

 vol. XXV, pp. 263-96, 4 plates. 

 " Observations on the Internal Structure of Calamoichthys, a new genus of 

 Ganoid Fish from Old Calabar": Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (3), 

 vol. xviii, pp. 114-17; also in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. v, 

 pp. 657-9. 



1867. " Description of Pygopterns Greenockii, Agass., with Notes on the Structural 



Relations of the genera Pygopterus, Amblypterus, and Euryuvtus''^ : 

 Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxiv, pp. 701-14, plate. 

 1871. "On Grijfit/ndes miicroiiatus, M'Coy" (1869): Journ. Roy. Geol. Soc. 

 Ireland, vol. ii, pp. 213-18, plate. 

 "On the Restoration of the Tail in Protopterus annectens, Owen": Brit. 

 Assoc. Report, vol. xli (Trans. Sect.), p. 143. 



