XXVI MEMOIR OF THE LATE 



science in the metropolis. On one point there is a seeming discrepancy 

 in the two journals, one mentioning the Report of the Fauna of Ireland 

 as having been brought forward at Glasgow, the other at Cork. Both 

 are correct ; the Report on the Vertchrata having been presented at the 

 former meeting ; that on the Invertebrata at the latter. 



" We have to record the death of Mr. William Thompson of Belfast, which 

 took place very suddenly in London, on Tuesday morning last. Mr. Thompson 

 had been visiting our metropolis chiefly with a view to making arrangements for 

 the approaching meeting of the British Association in Belfast, — of which he had 

 been appointed by the council a Vice-President. Mr. Thompson was well 

 known on various branches of Natural History, and one of liis works, ' The 

 Birds of Ireland,' we reviewed so lately as September last. [Athen. No. 1236.] 

 He devoted himself principally to zoology — though all branches of Natural His- 

 tory and Comparative Anatomy received a share of his attention. Science is 

 indebted to him for the ardour with which he nivestigated the zoology of his na- 

 tive country, and the large number of his papers in the annuals and magazines 

 of Natural History attest his great diligence in this respect. He was an early 

 friend of the British Association for the Advancement of Science ; and, at the 

 meeting held at Glasgow, delivered in a Report on the Fauna of Ireland. He 

 constantly attended its meetings; and, subsequently to his Report in 1840, he 

 contributed many papers on the Natural History of Ireland. It was owing to 

 his eftbrts that the Natural History section was so remarkably successful when 

 the Association met at Cork. His investigations on the Zoology of Ireland were 

 subservient to a great work which he had planned on the Natural History of 

 that island, and which, had his life been spared, there is no reason to doubt he 

 would have completed." — Athenmum, 



" WILLIAM THOMPSON, ESQ. 



" It is our painful duty to record the death of this eminent and amiable Irish 

 naturalist. He had come to London to attend a meetuig of the council of the 

 British Association, to assist in making the necessary arrangements for the 

 forthcoming gathering in the town of Belfast, of which he was so distinguished 

 an ornament. On this day week we conversed with him when in good, though not 

 robust, health and spirits, little anticipating that before three days we should be 

 writing his biography. He died suddenly, after a short and slight indisposition, 

 in his lodging in Jermyn Street. Mr. Thompson was bom in the year 1805, and 

 from his earliest youth was warmly attached to scientific and literary studies. 

 For the last fifteen years, or longer, his name has been constantly before the 

 world of science in connexion with arduous researches on the Natural History of 

 Ireland. The very numerous memoirs published by him, chiefly in scientific pe- 

 riodicals, and latterly more especially in the ' Annalsof Natural Histor)%' of which 

 publication he was a warm admirer and supporter, extend in their subjects over 

 all departments of zoology, and several are devoted to botanical investigations. He 

 was constantly on the watch for new facts bearmg on the Natural History of his 

 native island, which, assuredly, could boast of no more truly patriotic son than 

 himself. At the meeting of the British Association at Cork, he was appointed 

 Pri^sident of Section D, and conducted the proceedings of his department with a 

 judgment and suavity that made them eminently successful. On that occasion 

 he read an elaborate Report on the ' Fauna of Ireland,' since published in ex- 

 tenso in the Association ' Transactions ; ' and it was his intention to have com- 

 municated a continuation to the present day of that Report at the Belfast meet- 

 ing. He did not confine his inquiries to Irish subjects, but added considerably 

 to our knowledge of the Natural History of several parts of England and Scot- 

 land ; and when Professor E. Forbes proceeded to the ^gean at the invitation 

 of Captain Graves, Mr. Thompson, himself an intimate friend of the distinguish- 

 ed officer just named, accompanied him, and devoted the short time he was 

 in the Archipelago to interesting zoological observations, suice published, chiefly 



