Ixii PKOCEEDIoS'GS OF THE GEOLOaiCAL SOCIETY. [vol. Ixxili, 



Fund in 1886 and of the Bigsby Medal in 1897. He was elected 

 into the Koyal Society in 1S99. He served on our Council in 

 1892-95; and again in 1912-16, being a Vice-President for the 

 last three of these ^^ears. He also served on the Council of the 

 Linnean Society. 



Born on January 6th, 1853, Reid had the investigator-strain in 

 his blood, being a great-nephew of Michael rarada3\ He owed 

 little to early training, for circumstances compelled him to enter 

 business while still a youth ; but the nascent spirit of research 

 was stirred in him at the Juvenile Lectures of the Royal Institu- 

 tion, and he set out courageously to qualify himself for a scientific 

 career. Overcoming all difficulties, he obtained in 1874 a post on 

 the G-eological Survey as Assistant- Geologist, and entered with 

 enthusiasm upon what was to be his life's work. After a short 

 spell in the South-West of England, his duties took him to the 

 Eastern Counties and to the investigation of the complicated 

 Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of the Norfolk coast, a task in 

 which he quickly proved his ability both as geologist and as 

 naturalist. In the course of this work he devoted special attention 

 to the discovery and identification of the seeds of plants contained 

 in some of the deposits. This branch of research he afterwards 

 continued to pursue with conspicuous success, and became recog- 

 nized as a leading authority on the subject among Continental as 

 well as British geologists. 



Reid was next engaged on the north-eastern moorlands of York- 

 shire, and afterwards in Holderness and East Lincolnshire. Later 

 he was sent to map the South Downs and the coastal tract of 

 Sussex, passing thence through Hampshire and part of the Isle of 

 Wight into Dorset and Wiltshire. His descriptions of these areas 

 are contained in a series vi official memoirs published between the 

 years 1882 and 1903, and they are characterized, as are all his 

 writings, by clarity of expression and a grip of essentials. Mean- 

 while he had produced also a general monograph on the Pliocene 

 deposits of Britain, during the pre25aration of which he paid visits, 

 for purposes of comparison, to Belgium and Italy. His researches, 

 however, never stopped at the bounds of his official duty : all his 

 leisure was spent in furthering the studies which he had at heart, 

 and he was ever ready to bestow time and pains in helping any 

 otlier worker wlio stood in need of his special knowledge. His 

 papers contributed to scientific societies and periodicals were many, 

 and cover a wide range of subjects, but especialh^ the plant-life 



