linjS^ean society of LONDON. Ixxxiii 



Sir Josepli Paxton's career is a striking proof of wliat a man 

 iu this country may achieve by native talent combined witb good 

 conduct, industry, and intensity of purpose. And the character 

 of kindliness he has left amongst those who were best acquainted 

 with him shows how little such men are spoilt by the most daz- 

 zling success. 



James RanJcine, Esq., M D., who was admitted into the Society 

 iu 1840, died on the 10th inst, at Irvine, Scotland. 



Lovell Beeve, Esq., was born in London on the 19th of April, 

 1814. After receiving a good classical education, he was appren- 

 ticed, at the age of 13, to a grocer on Ludgate Hill, where the 

 accidental arrival of a sailor with a handkerchief full of shells, of 

 which he became the purchaser, led to his becoming an ardent 

 student of Conchology. In the pursuit of this branch of natural 

 history he was much assisted by a Mr. Walker, also a zealous 

 conchologist, as well as by Dr. J. E. Gray. In 1833 he attended 

 the third meeting of the British Association, at Cambridge ; and 

 had at that time obtained a sufficient reputation to be appointed, 

 in the Natural-History Section, Conchologist to a general explo- 

 ring expedition to the fens between Cambridge and Ely. 



On the termination of his apprenticeship Mr. Reeve proceeded 

 to Paris, where he made his first contribution to the literature of 

 conchology in the form of a paper " On the Classification of the 

 Mollusca," which was read at a meeting of the Academy. On his 

 return to London he devoted himself with increased earnestness 

 to his favourite study, and shortly afterwards produced his ' Con- 

 chologia Systematica,' in two 4to volumes, with 300 plates. His 

 zeal was such that the publication of this work exhausted his 

 funds, even to the sacrifice of his share in his deceased father's 

 estate. 



About this time, however, the fortunate and almost accidental 

 purchase of a valuable collection of shells at Rotterdam, made 

 with great care at the Moluccas by the Dutch Grovernor- General 

 Van Ryder, enabled Mr. Reeve to resume his favourite occupa- 

 tion. He was soon enabled to undertake the publication of an 

 illustrated work on the species of shells, entitled ' Conchologia 

 Iconica,' the value of which has been universally recognized, and 

 which was continued almost uninterruptedly from 1843 down to 

 the time of his death. In. 1850 Mr. Reeve also published a useful 

 elementary work, entitled " Elements of Conchology, an Intro- 

 duction to the Natural History of Shells and of the Animals 

 which form them." And on his removal to Henrietta Street he 



/2 



