380 



jun., was appointed one of the pioneer officers of the Geo- 

 logical Survey of Victoria, but as the latter was disbanded 

 for a time, the young geologist returned to the Homeland 

 and was appointed palaeontologist to the Geological Survey 

 of Scotland, and later as assistant to his father at the British 

 Museum. In 1887 he returned to Australia and held official 

 appointments in both the Department of Mines, New South 

 Wales, and the Australian Museum, Sydney. In 1895 he 

 was made Director of the latter, an office that he filled with 

 great efficiency up to the time of his death. Mr. Ethe ridge 

 was one of the most noteworthy pioneers in the elucidation of 

 the geology and palaeontology of Australia. Two of his 

 late colleagues. Professor David and Mr. C. Hedley, in an 

 appreciative notice in The Sydney Daily Telegraph, have 

 said: — "It is not too much to say that the classification and 

 correlation of the coalfields, goldfields, artesian water basins, 

 oilfields, and other mineral deposits of the Commonwealth are 

 based essentially on the work of Mr. Etheridge." 



His palaeontological knowledge was of a very wide and 

 cosmopolitan range, and he was ever ready to assist other 

 observers in the determination and description of fossil 

 remains. He was also interested in ethnological studies, and 

 made valuable contributions to our knowledge of Australian 

 aboriginal weapons and utensils. 



I have to express my personal indebtedness tO' the late 

 Mr. Etheridge for valuable aid covering a period of many 

 years. In referring to my letter-file I find that our correspond- 

 ence dates from 1877, when he was in Edinburgh and I on 

 the Tyne, and at that time was based on the investigation 

 of the microzoa of the Carboniferous Limestones of Scotland 

 and the North of England, and this correspondence was con- 

 tinued up to a few days before his death. 



Mr. Etheridge was elected an Honorary Fellow of the 

 Society in 1890, and at the time of his death was the senior 

 Honorary Fellow on the roll. 



His contribution to scientific serial literature was most 

 voluminous, in which our Society shared, including a most 

 valuable monograph on the Cretaceous Mollusca of South, 

 Australia and the Northern Territory, which forms a portion 

 of the Society's Memoirs, vol. ii., part i. One of his last 

 efforts of this kind was a very careful and comprehensive 

 revision of the South Australian Cambrian Trilobites, pub- 

 lished in the last volume of the Society's Transactions, and 

 although the final proof had passed his hands he did not 

 live to see it published. . 



Mr. Etheridge' s death from pneumonia, at the age of 

 73, was sudden and unexpected, as his many friends looked 



