54 



TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



only a few of those who preceded him — Isaac Thompson 

 made contributions to our knowledge of the marine fauna 

 which, taken with the scientific memoirs of these other 

 amateurs, constitute one of the glories of British Zoology. 

 In taking up a subject for serious study in connection 

 with the L.M.B.C. investigations, he soon acquired a wide 

 acquaintance with the Crustacea, and an intimate detailed 

 knowledge of the Copepoda and some allied groups of 

 Entomostraca. He never claimed to be a morphologist, 

 in the modern academic sense, or to go into minute 

 histological structure ; but he was a good type of the 

 cultured field-naturalist, and of a systematist of the best 



kind, interested in the lives and habits of his animals, 

 and preferring to catch the specimens himself, and to 

 examine them in the first place alive. He was always a 

 prominent member of the party during our dredging 

 expeditions in Liverpool Bay, and at the Port Erin 

 Biological Station. Little more than a month before his 

 death he was one of the leaders in the British Association 

 dredging excursion, which followed the Southport 

 meeting. His special function on these occasions was to 

 take charge of the tow-nets, and any who have been out 

 with the L.M.B.C. will recall his familiar figure sitting 



