they have made the British Museum the noblest collection the 

 world has ever seen. 



Dr. Gray's energy and industry were inexhaustible and un- 

 tiring. Hard work in whatever he undertook was his habit. 

 For the first sixteen years after his appointment he resided 

 chiefly at Blackheath, and in those days the stage-coach was 

 the usual conveyance. After a busy day in the Museum, if he 

 did not stay in town for the meeting of one or other of the 

 Societies of which he was a member, he was in the habit of 

 hurrying to catch the coach at Charing Cross ; and then, while 

 on the road, he would devour the contents of some work that 

 bore upon his researches, or engage in warm discussion upon 

 the topics that were agitating people's minds, and, after a hasty 

 dinner, he would set-to upon some work that he had in hand for 

 publication. The number of papers, and other works of greater or 

 less magnitude, published by him is immense, and attest his in- 

 dustry, research, and ability. He was pre-eminently a scientific 

 naturalist as distinguished from a popular writer, and his work is, 

 therefore, better known to students and professors than to the 

 general reader. To this journal he was a frequent contributor. 

 In 1870 he was seized by paralysis, and lost the use of his 

 right side ; but, in spite of this affliction, he never ceased to 

 give evidence of his mental activity ; and month after month 

 the Annals of Natural History continued to be enriched by 

 his contributions; and so late as January last he wrote a 

 paper " On the Madagascar River Hog, Potamochcerus," and 

 " On the Skulls of Three Species of the Genus " ; and in the 

 June previously he published the list of seals and morses, sea- 

 lions and sea-bears, in the British Museum, which forms a 

 valuable monograph of all the known species. 

 A learned Correspondent writes : — 



' ' Dr. Gray's untiring efforts were principally directed towards forming 

 a zoological collection worthy of the country ; and in this he succeeded 

 so well that he soon diverted the flow of foreign naturalists from Paris 

 to London, the University of Munich conferring on him the honorary 

 degree of Doctor of Philosophy for having formed the largest zoological 



