226 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY. VOL. II, NO. 8, OCTOBER, I905. 



scientific detail, was ardently sustained till the very end of his life. 

 He became associated with the Liverpool Museum more than forty 

 years ngo, about 1863, and in conjunction with Mr. T. J. Moore, 

 the then able curator, and the Rev. Henry H. Higgins, for long a 

 household word in Liverpool scientific circles, aided in the arrange- 

 ment of the la:'ge. hatural history collections being amassed there. 



Towards the elucidation of the Mollusca, he contributed an able 

 monograph of the genus Oliva to Sowerby's "Thesaurus Conchy- 

 liorum," 1870-1871. In this he proposed many critical species, 

 the majority of which are duly recognized at the present day. Sub- 

 sequently, his ideas as to specific characters underwent a process of 

 much modification and change, as evidenced especially in the genus 

 Nassa^ on which he wrote two or three treatises^; in one, proposing 

 many ncAv species, while in another he published phylogenetic tables, 

 endeavouring to prove the exceeding proneness to vary in all the 

 forms, and ultimately concluding that they all were descended from 

 a common ancestor, probably N. glans L. No one character, either 

 as regarded form, colour, size, marking or sculpture, seemed to him 

 otherwise than elusive to an extraordinary extent ; but, in our 

 opinion, his conclusions are too drastic, and we have been unable to 

 detect the intermediate links in such overwhelming numbers as to 

 reduce the species of the genus to an infinitesimal minimum. I 

 recollect, also, his once telling me that he considered Cyprcea 

 aurantium probably to be only a large deep-sea form of C. mappa. 

 But this, I think, was also rather a far-fetched conclusion. 



I have been acquainted with Mr. Marrat since 1868-69, when I 

 resided in Liverpool for two years, and have always much admired 

 and appreciated his love of accurate detail, his great acumen, unvary- 

 ing good nature and common-sense. 



It was he who, in 1865, catalogued the famous collection formed 

 by the late Mr. John Dennison, of Liverpool, which was sold at 

 Stevens' Auction Rooms, on April 24 and five subsequent days, this 

 being still considered the most distinguished collection of shells that 

 has come under the hammer during the last half-century, the specimens 

 realising in many cases remarkable and record prices. A large 

 number of these found their way to the Liverpool Museum, being 

 specimens as a rule unsurpassed for fineness of condition, either 

 through the instrumentality of the Rev. H. H. Higgins, Mr. Samuel 

 Smith, late manager of the Bank of Liverpool and a well-known private 

 collector, or Mr. Marrat himself. 



I " On the Variation of Sculpture in the Genus Nassa" \ Liverpool, May, 1S76. "On Forty 

 Proposed New Forms in the Genus TVawa"; Liverpool, 1S77. "On the Varieties of the Shells 

 of the Genus Nassa Lam." ; Liverpool, 1880. 



