234 [March, 



the Zoological Society of London. By the spring of the next year lie had prepared 

 a Catalogue of the Mammals in the Museum. This, however, was not published 

 until 1838, owing to his having introduced his own classification, which was strongly- 

 opposed by some members of the Museum Committee. About this time he wrote 

 the volume on Marsupials in Sir W. Jardine's " Naturalist's Library," and also the 

 account of the Mammals collected by C. Darwin during the voyage of H. M. S. 

 " Beagle," as well as several papers on tlie Coleoftera collected during the same 

 voyage, including an account of those of the G-alapagos Islands. In 1843 (Nov.) he 

 was appointed an Assistant in the Geological Department in the British Museum, 

 and in 1844 commenced his work on the " Natural History of Mammalia," which 

 occupied all his available spare time until the completion of the 2nd volume, in 1848, 

 when the publisher was unable to continue his work. He was President of the 

 Entomological Society in 1849 and 1850, and in this latter year he was elected an 

 Honorary Fellow of the Zoological Society. In 1851 (Dec.) he succeeded Mr. Konig 

 as " Keeper of the Mineralogical branch of the Natural History Department " in the 

 British Museum, the geological collections being at that time associated with the 

 minerals. In 1855 he prepared an article on the G-eographical Distribution of the 

 Eodents for Keith Johnston's Physical Atlas. In 1858 he visited Germany to 

 examine a collection of fossils offered for sale to the Trustees of the British 

 Museum. In it was the famous Archcpopteryx. In this year, and until 1861, 

 he was engaged in the preparation of his "Catalogue of British Coleoptera," 

 which gave such an impetus to the study of this Order of Insects among 

 British Entomologists, and which was especially valuable in consequence of the 

 clearing up of the synonymy of many species described by J. F. Stephens, hitherto 

 resting uncertain. Mr. Waterhouse was Vice-President of the Zoological Society in 

 1862 — 3. Besides the separate works already alluded to, the Eoyal Society's 

 Catalogue of Scientific Papers enumerates 117 of which he was the author. He was 

 an excellent draughtsman : many of his papers were illustrated by himself. Latterly 

 he occupied himself with literary researches, and in his official capacity was much 

 engaged in the preparation for the removal to South Kensington of the Geological 

 Collections, which, since 1857, had been separated from the Minerals. By his 

 advice, which his early training as an Architect qualified him to give, the basement 

 and ground floors of the right wing of the New Museum were considerably modified 

 so as to increase the accommodation for the Collections. This work harassed him 

 much, and feeling unequal to the anxiety consequent on the approaching removal, he 

 resigned his appointment in 1880. In 1885 he had a paralytic stroke, from which 

 he never entirely recovered ; and he died January 2l6t, 1888, in his 78th year. Of 

 his three sons, the eldest is the well-known Assistant in the British Museum, who 

 promises to eclipse his father's fame as a Coleopterist ; the second is the Librarian to 

 the Zoological Society ; the youngest was for some time Entomological Curator to 

 the present Marquis of Ripon. His second daughter is the widow of Mr. E. C. Eye, 

 one of the founders of this Magazine, whose untimely decease his colleagues remain 

 to deplore. A taste for Natural History pursuits appears to have existed in his 

 family, for one of his brothers (still living) was for many years Curator of the 

 Museum at Adelaide, South Australia. Two traits were especially prominent in 

 Mr. Waterhouse's character : a nervous striving at scientific accuracy in all his 

 writings; and an amiability, even under the most trying circumstances, that endeared 

 him to all his friends. 



