240 PROF. A. MEEK's obituary OF 



to the sons of the Earl of Glasgow at the ' Garrison', Mill- 

 port, Cumbrae, and it was then that he began .the systematic 

 collection of marine life by dredging. The dredging 

 expeditions commenced at this period, and the study and 

 arrangement of the specimens occupied, almost without 

 intermission, the greater part of his leisure time in after life, 

 with results which are familiar to all naturalists here and 

 abroad. 



Shortly after his appointment to the curacy at Sedgefield he 

 was elected a member of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field 

 Club; his name appears in the list of members in 1858. He 

 thus came into contact with the Hancocks, Alder, the Bradys, 

 Bold, Atthey, Hodge, Howse, and so many others who, 

 like himself, devoted their spare time to the study of the 

 natural history of our northern counties. The Society had at 

 the time attained a high degree of fame. The field and 

 winter meetings were important and interesting gatherings of 

 well-known naturalists, the work of whom was widely spread 

 by the excellent papers which were published in the 

 Transactions. 



As has been apparent he had already acquired an interest 

 in botany, in insects and in moUusca, and had begun the 

 study of marine life which in future years was to be so 

 serviceable as widening and co-ordinating our knowledge of the 

 life of the sea. His early papers and notes contributed to the 

 Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club Transactions illustrate the 

 wide scope of his interests about the year i860. They begin 

 with an account of the species of Mysis, with the intention of 

 bringing out the peculiarities of Afysis spiritiis - afterwards 

 raised to the genus of Schistomysis — which he discovered at 

 Castle Eden. This was followed by papers on rare marine 

 Mollusca, and a rare Ophiuroid of our coast, besides papers 

 on Volvox, the local species of Polygonum and the botany of 

 the ballast hills of South Durham. 



At this period also, through grants from the British 

 Association, dredging expeditions were organised at various 

 regions around the British Islands, notably in the seas about 



