54 
PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 
[May  1893, 
Besides  a  number  of  important  reports  and  works  on  meteorology, 
Mr.  Blanford  was  author  of  several  papers  on  fossil  and  recent 
mollusca  and  of  two  treatises  on  the  geography  of  India.  One  of 
these  has  been  used  for  many  years  as  a  test-book  by  schools  and 
colleges  in  India  ;  the  other  is  a  recent  publication,  and  forms  one 
of  Macmillan’s  Geographical  Series,  published  under  the  editorship  of 
Sir  Archibald  Geikie.  Another  recent  publication  of  Mr.  Blanford’s 
is  ‘  A  Practical  Guide  to  the  Climates  and  Weather  of  India,  Ceylon, 
and  Burma,  and  the  Storms  of  Indian  Seas.’  He  also  wrote,  in 
conjunction  with  the  late  Mr.  J.  W.  Salter,  the  Palaeontology  of 
Niti.  His  only  contribution  to  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  this 
Society  was  an  important  paper  published  in  1875  on  ‘  The  Age 
und  Correlation  of  the  Plant-bearing  Series  of  India,  and  the  former 
existence  of  an  Indo-Oceanic  Continent.’ 
Mr.  H.  F.  Blanford  became  a  Pellow  of  the  Geological  Society 
in  1862  and  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1880.  He  was  President  of 
the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal  in  1884-85. 
Thomas  William  Fletcher,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  P.S.A.,  late  Colonel  in 
the  Staffordshire  Militia,  was  born  at  Darlaston,  Staffordshire,  on 
the  25th  May,  1808.  He  was  educated  at  Dublin,  and  took  his  M.A. 
at  that  University,  being  also  an  M.A.  of  Oxford.  For  some  years  he 
practised  as  a  solicitor  at  Dudley,  and  in  1860  became  a  barrister  of 
the  Inner  Temple.  At  one  time  he  was  much  interested  in  the 
fossils  of  his  native  county,  and  in  1850  contributed  two  short 
papers  on  Dudley  Trilobites  to  our  Quarterly  Journal.  When  the 
meeting  of  the  British  Association  took  place  at  Dudley  in  1849  his 
collection  attracted  the  attention  of  several  notabilities,  among  whom 
were  Prince  Charles  Lucien  Bonaparte,  Sir  R.  Murchison,  Drouyn  de 
Lhuys,  Joachim  Barrande,  Edward  Porbes,  etc.  Subsequently  Colonel 
Fletcher  parted  with  his  collection  to  the  Woodwardian  Museum, 
and  apparentlj7  ceased  to  collect  fossils.  Nevertheless,  he  is  said  to 
have  taken  an  interest  in  geology  to  the  last,  and  often  attended 
the  field  meetings  of  the  Dudley  Geological  Society.  He  died  at 
Launeswood  House,  near  Stourbridge,  on  the  1st  February,  1893, 
within  a  few  months  of  completing  his  85th  year. 
Thomas  Davies  was  born  on  the  29th  December,  1837,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  London.  He  was  the  son  of  Mr.  William  Davies, 
P.G.S.,  of  the  Geological  Department  of  the  British  Museum. 
Having  somewhat  of  a  roving  disposition,  he  went  to  sea  at  the  age 
