In Memoriam — Joseph Lomas. 



59 



Mr. Lomas commenced his scientific career as a student at 

 the Normal School of Science, and on his attainment to the 

 Associateship of that Institution, removed to Liverpool, 

 where he was appointed to the post of Lecturer in Science by 

 the Liverpool School Board. 



Though primarily a geologist, Lomas b}' no means confined 

 his attention to the study of the rocks. His early training 

 under Huxley had given him a love for zoology, and in Liver- 

 pool, under the stimulating influence of Professor Herdman, 

 to which Liverpool owes so much, he did good work on the 

 Marine Polyzoa of the district. 



It was during one of the dredging excursions, organised bv 

 Professor Herdman, for the investigation of the Fauna and 

 Flora of Liverpool Bay, that the writer first became intimately 

 acquainted with Mr. Lomas, and it was Lomas's influence that 

 induced him to take up science as a profession. 



About the time that he was engaged on the study of 

 the polyzoa, he was also doing valuable w^ork on the glacial 

 deposits of the Liverpool district, at a time when the phenomena 

 of the Pleistocene period were the subject of much discussion, 

 and on the deposits forming on the floor of the Irish Sea, the 

 investigation of the latter being the special duty allotted to 

 him during the expeditions of the Liverpool Marine Biology 

 Committee. 



Scon after his arrival in Liverpool, Lomas joined the ranks 

 of the Liverpool Geological Societ}-. He rapidly gained the 

 confidence of the older members, and in 1887 was elected a 

 member of the Council, and filled the presidential chair from 

 1896 to 1898. 



At the end of the present year the Society will celebrate 

 the fiftieth year of its existence, and Lomas had been unani- 

 mously chosen as the member best fitted to act as President on 

 that occasion. 



For many years the investigation of the Triassic rocks, on 

 which the City of Liverpool stands, has occupied the members 

 of the Society, and in this work Lomas has of late taken an 

 active part. It was largely due to him that the Committee 

 of the British Association for the ' Investigation of the Fauna 

 and Flora of the Trias of the British Isles was formed, and 

 at the time of his death he w^as on his way to investigate the 

 desert phenomena in the neighbourhood of the Biskra Oasis, 

 under a grant from the Association. 



1909 February i. 



