23 
MEMBERS' DAYS 
Chairman: Mrs. N. Sep!? tons 
11 Members' Days were held on Wednesdays, at which the following subjects 
were discussed: — Oct. 11 — The advantages of scientific discoveries outweigh the 
disadvantages. Nov. 8 — Some episodes in the 64 years 1 history of the Society, 
from the Annual Proceedings. Dec. 20— Souvenirs. Jan. 10 — Recalling the Field 
Meetings of 1967. Feb. 21 — Members' transparencies of scientific interest. Mar. 20 
— Personal impressions of U.S.A. Apl. 17 — Specimens shown under microscopes. 
May 15— Bird and Animal recordings. June 12 — Metamorphoses of Butterflies 
and Moths. July 17 — Thomas Hardy. Sept. 11 — Members' choice of Natural 
Science books. 
CINE FILM SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAMMES 
Organiser and Chairman: J. C, Milton 
Three films were shown on each occasion: — Oct. 4 — The Seasons. France 
is a Garden, Land of the Falling Waters. Nov. 1 — The Golden Lands. The 
Revealing Eye, The Vanishing Coast. Dec. 6 — Rivers, To Catch a Rhino, Return 
to the Island. Jan. 3 — Normandy, Water in Biology, The Lonely Places. Feb. 7 — 
Rain Makers, Under the Nullarbor, Chateaux et Rivieres. Mar. 9 — The Ben 
Barnas, Africa Awakening, Birds of a Border Estate. Apl. 3 — The Hornet Wasp, 
Beyond the Riviera, Japan — Profile of a Nation. A gap in the March programme 
was filled by the showing of a silent travel film taken by a deceased member. 
<©tntuarte£ 
WILFRED PARKINSON CURTIS, f.z.s., f.r.e.s., f.r.h.s. 
In the death of Parkinson Curtis, on June 26th, 1968, in his 90th year, the 
Society has lost the last of its Founder Members. A member of an old Poole 
family, he lived the whole of his life in his native town, although he practised 
as a solicitor in Bournemouth until his retirement in 1953. In recent years he 
very seldom attended the meetings of the Society. The reason for this- was that 
he was extremely deaf, and found it quite impossible to attend lectures or enter 
into scientific discussions. His main interest was Entomology: he was a noted 
authority on the British Lepidoptera. He was responsible for the Entomological 
Section in the Natural History of Bournemouth and District Handbook published 
by the Society in 1914. In conjunction with his brother Harker Curtis, he wrote the 
chapter on Bird Life. He was made an Honorary Member in 1922. 
Parkinson Curtis was elected a member of the Royal Entomological Society 
of London in 1908. He made many contributions to the Entomological journals, 
but his major study, on which he had worked for the whole of his life, and which 
he only completed a few days before his death, was A List of the Lepidoptera 
of Dorset. This was, in fact, a detailed study of the Lepidoptera found in the 
County of Dorset. His MS. consisted of 650 foolscap pages. A man of many 
accomplishments, he was a fine landscape painter in oils. His interests included 
nature-photography, and he was one of the pioneers in this field. In his later 
years, when field-work was too arduous for him, he took up micro-photography. 
A keen gardener, he had a beautiful place in Branksome Park, where he specialised 
in growing rhododendrons. 
WILLIAM JOHN READ, m.sc, f.r.i.c. 
The Society has sustained the loss of a first-class scientist in the death of 
Mr. Read on the 14th October, 1968. Born at Norwich in 1888, he gained a 
resident scholarship to Banham Grammar School, where he matriculated with 
first class honours and was awarded a County Council Scholarship to Manchester 
University, later graduating in science, with first class honours. Subsequently, he 
obtained the degree of Master of Science and also became a Fellow of the 
Institute of Chemistry. 
Mr. Read's first post was as assistant chemist and bacteriologist to the West 
Riding Rivers' Board, as he had specialised in water analysis, an interest he was 
to retain for the rest of his life. Next he was appointed Bacteriologist and 
Chemist in the County Health Department at Weston-super-Mare. 
