MEI.VILI. : OBITUARY NOTICE— E. A. SMITH. 151 



unfortunately already cramped for room at the old quarters. It was, 

 therefore, not possible to make much headway until 1881, when the 

 new buildings were completed, as we have just stated above. 



Smith then found ample scope for what he had long desired; and 

 the planning of the new cases and ultimate design of the arrangement 

 was undoubtedly to him a thoroughly congenial task. The multitud- 

 inous number of types, especially in the Cumingian Collections, 

 places the stores at South Kensington on a higher plane than those 

 in any other museum in the world, perfect though many of them be, 

 as regards the moUusca; and Smith was justly proud of what was 

 his special care. One of his most interesting pamphlets, written 

 specially by order of the INIuseum authorities, is devoted to an expo- 

 sition of the growth of these collections, and names the authors whose 

 types are to be found there. 



In 1895 Edgar Smith was promoted to be Assistant-Keeper; in 

 1903 he received the distinction of the Imperial Service Order 

 (I.S.O.). In 1913, on completing his sixty-fifth year, he retired from 

 his official duties ; but a room was specially allotted to him, in which 

 he might continue to prosecute his researches, and carry out descrip- 

 tive and other work. His freedom of action being thus unimpeded, 

 his many friends hoped that for a long time to come he might eluci- 

 date many knotty points and add to knowledge out of his stores of 

 long experience ; and so, for two years or so, he remained at the 

 Museum with advantage to all concerned. But, alas ! the time was 

 not to be prolonged. His health began to fail about August or Sep- 

 tember, 19 1 5, and on 22nd of July last he passed away at his house 

 in jNIill Hill Park, Acton, in his sixty-ninth year. 



In July, 1876, he married Miss F. Travers, and she, with four sons 

 and two daughters, survives him. 



He is credited with being the author of about three hundred papers, 

 including monographs, geographical and faunistic treatises, reports of 

 scientific expeditions, and descriptive writings. 



His first publications, so far as I can ascertain, were in 1871; 

 ^ "A List of the Genus Fianaxis, with Descriptions of Eleven New 

 Species"; and in the same year - "A Catalogue of West African Shells 

 with Descriptions." 



His last, shewing that he worked to the very end, were published 

 in March, 1916 : "On some Pelecypoda from the Philippines," and 

 " On South African Species of Sepiidcz" both in the Proceedings of 

 the Malacological Society, of which body he was for years the Editor 

 of Reports, and also had filled the Presidential Chair, 190 1-3. He 



1 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ix., pp. 37 — 46. 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1871, pp. 727 — 739, pi. Ixxv. 



