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OBITUARY NOTICE : 

 THE REV. CANON ALFRED MERLE NORMAN, D.C.L., F.R.S. 



By J. COSMO MELVILL, M.A., D.Sc. 



It is with deep regret that we chronicle the passing away, at his resi- 

 dence at Berkhanisted, of the well-known scientist, Canon Norman, 

 on October 26th last. He had attained the ripe age of 88 years. 



Born in 1831, he was son of Mr. John Norman, D.L., Iwod House, 

 Somerset. Educated at Winchester and Christ Church, Oxford, he 

 became successively Rector of Houghton-le-Spring and Burnmoor, 

 Fence Houses, both in County Durham, and in 1885 was appointed 

 to an Honorary Canonry of Durham Cathedral. 



As regards his scientific attainments and aims, he took the North 

 sea as his main basis of action, and most assiduously dredged these 

 waters, amassing thereby an amount of material such as had been 

 hardly, if ever, brought together by one man before ; this material 

 embracing every group of Marine Zoology, Echinodermata, Sponges, 

 Crustacea, Mollusca included, and he had the rare pleasure of de- 

 scribing most of his own discoveries in the pages of " Annals arid 

 Magazine of Natural History " mainly, though he did not confine 

 himself to this periodical entirely. By degress this vast collection, 

 now dubbed the Museum Nornianianum, attracted the notice of the 

 scientific world, and he was soon gazetted one of the chief authorities 

 on Marine Invertebrata, a distinction richly deserved. Possibly his 

 chief love was for the Crustacea, but nothing in Marine Zoology was 

 neglected by him. He had taken part, likewise, in several of the 

 cruises instituted mainly by England and France, such as those of 

 the "Lightning," " Porcupine," "Valorous," "Talisman," and " Tra- 

 vailleur," for instance. His vitality and vigour were remarkable, and 

 seldom equalled. The last time I had the pleasure of conversing with 

 him was in 1907, at the sale of the Da Costa Collection of Mollusca, 

 at Stevens' Auction Rooms, and he certainly looked much younger 

 than his years. In 1908-1910 lie parted with his wonderful museum, 

 generously bestowing it upon the nation, and it is now housed in the 

 Natural History Museum, South Kensington. He had previously 

 catalogued it all in his History of the Miisezim Nonnafiiamim. It 

 contains about 6,000 species of Crustacea, 3,500 or more Spongiadce, 

 many Echinodermata, and an almost complete collection of Mollusca 

 found in these northern seas, a detailed account of which, written by 

 Messrs. VV. Denison Roebuck and Robert Standen, in 1892, on the 

 occasion of a visit paid by them to Burnmoor Rectory, may be found 

 in Journal of Coiichology, vol. vii., pp. 124-126. This gives more 

 information of the origin and important parts of the collection. Any 



