Death of Mr. Kirby. 2887 



of those who, partaking at his hands of the truly philosophical taste 

 he was so willing and so able to impart, have in their turn become, 

 first pupils, and then masters, in the science of which he was so dis- 

 tinguished an ornament. Thus although on the very subjects which 

 Mr. Kirby selected for illustration, such for instance as the specific 

 differences of the British bees, he has been detected in some inaccu- 

 racies by observers equally pains-taking with himself; still it is 

 evident, from their own spontaneous admissions, that the greater pro- 

 ficiency of these later authorities is to be traced to his teachings, and 

 the taste matured in them is found to have been inspired by the ad- 

 mirable manner in which Mr. Kirby himself introduced the subject 

 to their notice. 



It is interesting to note the first dawnings of that ardent love for 

 Natural History which was destined in after life to distinguish our de- 

 parted friend. In his very infancy we find him, under the guidance of a 

 beloved mother, learning the names and studying the beauties of shells, 

 of which she fortunately possessed a collection amply sufficient for the 

 purpose. We next hear of his being engrossed with botany, a study he 

 pursued with untiring energy until he made himself perfectly familiar 

 with every plant that grew around his home. Lastly, he has himself 

 recorded that the final bias towards the study in which he reaped all 

 his laurels, was given by accidentally watching a yellow lady-bird 

 crawling up a pane of glass : thus adding one more to the numerous 

 instances already before us, of the apparently insignificant causes 

 which have turned the thoughts of great men to subjects of which the 

 subsequent investigation has rendered them so illustrious. 



Mr. Kirby was born at or near Ipswich, in September, 1759; he 

 studied at Caius College, Cambridge ; and took up his residence at the 

 Rectory of Barham in 1782, being then in the 23rd year of his age : he 

 resided at Barham sixty-eight years, and died there full of years and 

 full of honours on the 4th of July, 1850, enjoying not only the admi- 

 ration of the scientific world, but the love and veneration of all who 

 knew him, for although ranking so high as a philosopher, he was 

 throughout his long life equally beloved and venerated as a man : he 

 was an exemplary and active clergyman, endeared to all classes of his 



