140 Obituary, 



or diy, terminate, with one exception, whicli runs into the Severn. 

 I may add, we have no fresh water deposits in our valleys. 



Yours, Thos. C. Bkown. 

 Further Barton, Cirencester. 



OBITTJ.A.I^3^. 



Jacques Amand Etjdes Deslongchamps was horn at Caen, in 

 Normandy, on the 17th of January, 1794. His parents were poor, 

 and imposed upon themselves severe privations in order to afford to 

 their son a liberal education. At the age of eighteen he had so 

 much distinguished himself through his medical studies and examin- 

 ations, that he was appointed an assistant-surgeon to the frigate 

 " La Gloire." In 1812 he became surgeon-assistant-major to the 

 Military Hospital of Caen, but soon afterwards left the navy and 

 went to Paris, in order to complete his medical studies, and to take 

 his degree of Doctor of Surgery, During his sojourn in Paris, 

 medicine was not, however, his only study, for comparative anatomy, 

 botany, and physiology had occupied much of his time, and of those 

 sciences he made himself eminently proficient, as well as in the art 

 of drawing. When in Paris he became intimate with Cuvier, and 

 his young mind was so deeply impressed by the wonderful discover- 

 ies of Mammalian remains brought to light through the genius of 

 that celebrated naturalist, that on his return to Caen he lost no time 

 in exploring the many quarries that surrounded his native town. 

 Great, indeed, was his surprise and delight when he found them 

 replete with fossil remains of all kinds ; and the discovery of a 

 specimen of Teleosaurus Cadomensis so elated him, that from that 

 time comparative anatomy and palaeontology became his chief and 

 favourite studies. At Caen he met Lamouroux, and with him 

 studied the corals, and was one of the contributors to the " Encyclo- 

 pedic Methodique," as well as of the " Dictionnaire des Sciences 

 Naturelles." He was the chief founder both of the Museum of 

 Natural History of Caen (of which he was honorary curator), and 

 of the Linn^an Society of Normandy, and has for years been the 

 principal contributor to its transactions. In 1825 he succeeded 

 Lamouroux as Professor of Zoology to the Faculty of Sciences of 

 Caen, and on the 22nd of October, 1847, was elected Dean of the 

 said Faculty, which chairs he retained till the day of his death. No 

 professor could be more popular or more respected, and he inspired 

 his pupils with a true love of science ; indeed his noble mind was 

 constantly bent on doing good, and in affording relief and encourage- 

 ment to all those who were in need of his aid or advice. So important 

 and varied were his researches and publications, that he was univer- 

 sally recognized as one of the most eminent palasontologists of his day. 

 He published many excellent memoirs and monographs of the Fossil 

 Mollusca which occur in the Oolitic and Liassic deposits of Normandy, 

 and those which treat of the genera Pleurotomaria, Plicatula, Turri- 

 tella, Trochotoma, Eligmus, etc., are particularly remarkable. He also 



