TOMLIN: OriTUARY NOTICE — DR. BOETIGER. 163 



long break to his activity in this direction; for nearly nineteen years, 

 from 1878 onwards, under the influence of a nervous disorder, he 

 utterly refused to come outside his house and garden, and it was only 

 in 1897 that his brother induced him to come out of doors one 

 evening after nightfall, by the promise of a rare stamp which he had 

 brought from America! They even visited a tavern together, and 

 from that evening Boettger was cured. 



During this voluntary imprisonment he accomplished the best of 

 his systematic work, and was never at a loss for material owing to his 

 world-wide correspondence. Great was the jubilation over his first 

 re-appearance at the local Natural History Society — the "Beetlebox," 

 and he almost at once resumed his professorial work. 



At the beginning of 1908 a marked failing in his powers was 

 noticeable, but he fought bravely against disease and we find him, as 

 late as the end of last summer, working hard to complete his Cata- 

 logue of Reptilia and Amphibia. He succumbed, however, to cancer 

 on September 25th. 



His collections and library pass to the Senckenberg Society, of 

 which he was an original member. 



The Dispersal of Shells by Insects.— I have been much interested in read- 

 ing in the current number of the Jotunal of Concholooy the extract, on page 108, 

 from Mr. Tomlin's paper on " The Dispersal of Shells by Insects," for an exactly 

 similar incident occurred to myself when out with a small party of boys on June 

 nth, 1907, in a lane near Upper Beeding, in Sussex. In my case also it was a 

 huge bumble-bee with one of its hind legs held firmly between the shell and the 

 operculum of a fine specimen of Cyclostoma elegans, but the bee was only able to 

 progress in a series of short flights, rising about two feet into the air, and then 

 being dragged down again by the weight of the snail, reaching the ground in each 

 case some four or five feet from its last resting place. This difficulty in progression 

 may have been due to tiredness, for both bee and snail were smothered with dust, 

 and had, I should say, come some distance along the dusty road and hedges. Our 

 attention being attracted by the very loud "buzzing and bumbling"' made by the 

 bee in its vigorous efforts to get rid of its encumbrance, the creatures were caught, 

 but in endeavouring to release the bee from its trap we only succeeded in snapping 

 its leg, when, however, it flew off briskly with what sounded like a happy and 

 relieved hum. The snail was retained, and next day was still holding the piece of 

 leg firmly. I do not think I have seen the animal since. It is curious that two. 

 such similar incidents should have been observed in such widely separated parts of 

 the country, and one wonders why the bees should " interfere with " the snails so 

 as to get caught in this way. Were both incidents merely accidents, or were they 

 attempts at egg-laying in the snail-shells ? Uo bees do such things ? Mr. Tomlin 

 tells me that certain beetles habitually breed in snail-shells. The incident is 

 recorded in the 1907 Report of the Christ's Hospital Natural History Society. — 

 H. J. Stalley {Ktad be/ore the Society, Nov. 9th, 1910). 



