120 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



OBITUARY. 

 Dr. J. W. Stroud. 



We have only just learned, and to our sincere regret, that Dr. 

 J. W. Stroud died at Pretoria in November, 1905, in his seventy- 

 third year. Dr. Stroud, who was a native of Bristol, had settled 

 down in South Africa many years ago, in what may be called the pre- 

 scientific days of that colony ; and, although his name was little 

 known in natural history circles at the time of his death, he had yet 

 acted as a pioneer in days when to be interested in zoological pursuits 

 and not in the quest for wealth was looked upon as at least an oddity. 

 His two principal publications are to be found in the ' Transactions of 

 the Eastern Province (South Africa) Naturalists' Society,' which was 

 established at Port Elizabeth, and are entitled, " The Honey-Bee (Apis 

 mellifica), its Natural History and Management" (1884), and " The 

 Nervous System and General Anatomy of the Articulata, including 

 Millipedes, Spiders, and Insects " (1885). 



It was, however, in the almost nightly gatherings at his house in 

 Pretoria that he did most to foster philosophical discussion. Men of 

 the most diverse views gathered round a hospitable and versatile host, 

 and evolutionary discussions were common in at least one Trans- 

 vaalian homestead. We still remember with affection our old partner 

 at almost nightly whist, and the manner in which the best hands were 

 shattered by his tendency to shunt on to a biological or theological 

 argument. In an atmosphere of embryonic millionaires, he seemed to 

 strive for "neither poverty nor riches"; and, if Dr. Stroud left no 

 great zoological publication behind, we can remember that in any 

 cause the good that a man does lives afterwards. 



