292 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VOL. I3, NO. lO, APRIL, I9I2. 



and access being comparatively easy, Mr. Cairns spent a great deal 

 of time in investigating the geological character and contents of these 

 beds. Mr. Standen, in "Some Reminiscences of the late Mr. Cairns," 

 in the Lancashire Naturalist, Jan., 19 12, referring to this portion of 

 his work, says : — ■" Mr. Cairns also collected extensively from the 

 celebrated ' Marine Band ' in the Middle Coal Measures exposed on 

 the banks of the River Tame at Dukinfield, one of the many forms 

 of moUusca from this horizon being named in his honour, viz., 

 Aviculopeden cairnsii Bolton." 



Another hunting-ground which very frequently attracted Mr. Cairns 

 was in and about Castleton in Derbyshire. The Winnats, Sparrow- 

 pit, and many other localities were worked very successfully, both for 

 fossil and recent shells. 



Although, with the exception of his collection of Cyprma, Mr. 

 Cairns did not collect many marine shells, no account of his concho- 

 logical work would do him justice which did not refer to the great 

 interest he took in obtaining and dealing with the large collection of 

 marine shells which, through the instrumentality of the Rev. James 

 and Mrs. Hadfield, was collected in Lifu, Uvea, and other islands of 

 the Loyalty group. The collection also included many interesting 

 species of land and a few freshwater shells. A permanent collection 

 of these shells was placed in the Manchester Museum, and named 

 " The Hadfield Collection." The late Mr. R. D. Darbishire took a 

 very great interest in this large and interesting consignment, which 

 forms the subject of three lengthy articles in the Journal of Con- 

 chology, under the title of " Notes on a Collection of Shells from 

 Lifu and Uvea, Loyalty Islands, formed by the Rev. James and Mrs. 

 Hadfield, with List of Species," by James Cosmo Melvill, M.A., and 

 Robert Standen ; part i., vol. viii., 1895-6, pp. 84-132, pis. ii. and iii. ; 

 part ii., vol. viii., 1896, pp. 273-315, and pp. 379-81, pis. ix.-xi. ; 

 part iii., vol. viii., 1S97, pp. 396-421. These articles were published 

 later as Museum Handbooks under the title of " Catalogue of the 

 Hadfield Collection of Shells." In connection with the early history 

 of this collection, Mr. Joseph H. Hardy was most actively associated 

 with Mr. Cairns in the investigation of the first arrivals. 



One of the earliest, if not the first Natural History Society with 

 which Mr. Cairns was connected, was the Scientific Students' Asso- 

 ciation of Manchester, and many happy rambles one can remember 

 under the auspices of this once popular society. 



For a great many years he had been a member of the Concho- 

 logical Society of Great Britain and Ireland ; the Malacological 

 Society of London ; and the Manchester Microscopical Society. 



