2o8 melvill: British pioneers in conchological science. 



lieve, now in Florence. He was one ot the first collectors both 

 of the botany and zoology of the Atlantic Islands, and of the 

 Iberian Peninsula, likewise the Morocco coasts. He will princi- 

 pally be remembered, in conjunction with M. Berthelot, for the 

 masterly work on the fauna of the Canary Islands : " Histoire 

 Naturelle des Canaries," (1833). The list of shells there given 

 has been enlarged by Mr, R. Macandrew, and now forms one 

 of the British Museum catalogues. He died circa 1854. 



We have mentioned the name of Mr. Broderip, and now 

 it behoves us to give a short account of his distinguished 

 career. William John Broderip was born November 21st, 1789, 

 and matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he made the 

 acquaintance, among others, of Dean Buckland. In 181 7 he 

 was called to the Bar, and practised with success. In 1822 he 

 was appointed by Lord Sidmouth a magistrate at the Thames 

 Police Office. For thirty-four years he continued to hold that 

 position, till the year 1856. He found time to acquire a vast 

 collection of conchological treasures, and before long his 

 cabinets were considered one of the sights of scientific London. 

 Indeed, with Mr. Cuming's, it now forms one of the chief portions 

 of our National Collection, for the British Museum authorities 

 purchased it entire. In company with Mr. Sowerby and Mr. 

 Reeve, he described multitudinous new species from either the 

 Cumingian collection or some of the scientific expeditions, and 

 besides this, with Professor R. Owen, he wrote a treatise ' On 

 the Anatomy of Brachiopoda, with descriptions of new species,' 

 1834 ; ' Zoological Recreations,' 1847, and ' The Note Book of 

 a Naturalist,' 1.85 1. He also contributed a ' Table of the Situa- 

 tions and Depths at which recent genera of Marine and Estuary 

 Shells have been observed,' to the Appendix of De La Beche's 

 Researches in Theoretical Geology, and above all, nearly the 

 whole of the scientific Articles in the Penny Cyclopoedia, includ- 

 ing those on Conchology, which are very extended and lucid, are 

 by his hand. He died suddenly, in the midst of his literary labours, 

 on the 27th February, 1859, in his seventieth year. 



J.C, vi., Apr., iSgo. 



