272 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



OBITUARY. 



Professor A. Newton, M.A., F.R.S., &c. 



Zoologists in general, but especially ornithologists and oologists, 

 will deplore the loss of Professor Alfred Newton, one of our most dis- 

 tinguished and soundest zoologists, who passed away on the 7th of 

 June. Professor Newton, who held the Chair of Zoology and Com- 

 parative Anatomy at Cambridge since 1866, was well known and most 

 highly esteemed, not only in Great Britain, but in every country where 

 zoology, and more especially ornithology, is studied, and his writings, 

 though many, were not so voluminous as they might well have been, 

 for he never put pen to paper until he had fully studied his subject, and 

 in consequence nothing that he wrote will pass away, but will stand as 

 a lasting memorial of the care and hard work he bestowed on all that 

 he undertook. Extreme accuracy was with him the corner-stone of all 

 his work, and he would spend weeks of labour and earnest research in 

 verifying any reference. It is scarcely necessary here to enumerate all 

 the works he has written, but amongst these I may especially name his 

 ' Dictionary of Birds,' written with the co-operation of Messrs. Hans 

 Gadow, Richard Lydekker, Charles S. Ray, and Robert W. Shufeldt, a 

 work which is indispensable to every working ornithologist ; vols. i. 

 and ii. of Yarrell's ' British Birds ' ; his ' Ootheca Wolleyana,' a cata- 

 logue of the celebrated collection of eggs originally formed by the late 

 John Wolley, and completed by Professor Newton himself, which, 

 though commenced as long ago as 1866, was only completed shortly 

 before his death ; and his various papers on the Great Auk or Gare- 

 fowl. 



As one of the founders — probably the chief of the small band of 

 ornithologists who founded, nearly fifty years ago, the British Ornitho- 

 logists' Union — Professor Newton and his coadjutors gave an impetus 

 to the study of ornithology which has had most gratifying and lasting 

 results. 



A severe though a very fair critic, and a hard hitter when he deemed 

 it necessary to administer salutary correction, Professor Newton was a 

 firm friend, most courteous, genial, and pleasant in manner in personal 

 intercourse, and especially kind and helpful towards young ornitholo- 

 gists ; therefore he was greatly loved and revered by all who came in 

 personal contact with him. It was a constant custom with him to be 



