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Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
catalogues of the greater part of the collections. Thus settled with definite 
work before him, and amidst congenial surroundings, Dr Gunther laboured 
incessantly at his great task ; and though the apartments, which were cellar- 
like, in the old Museum in Bloomsbury were far less cheerful than in the 
New Natural History Museum at South Kensington, yet his interest and 
energy never flagged. From the first the Fishes, Batrachians, and Reptiles 
were prominent in his studies, though Birds and Mammals also received 
due attention, as shown in various papers to the Zoological Society. Thus 
his work in the latter group ranged from monkeys, carnivores, rodents, and 
ungulates to marsupials, and from diverse parts of the globe. Besides 
accounts of recent birds, he, along with Mr Newton, investigated the extinct 
birds of Rodriguez. Only a lifelong experience, rigid accuracy, and great 
natural ability could have enabled him to grasp the salient points of forms 
pertaining to such diverse types, and this not in single species, but often in 
hundreds, and whose close resemblances or intricacies of structure were in 
themselves sources of perplexity. 
The extraordinary activity with which he laboured is demonstrated by 
the long list of his works, memoirs, and papers on all the groups mentioned. 
Amongst the more important are such as The Geographical Distribution 
of Reptiles (1858), in which he had forestalled many interesting features 
subsequently described by others ; the memoir on Ceratodus, the lung-fish 
of the Burnett and Mary rivers of Queensland ; that on the structure of 
Hatteria (Sphenodon) from New Zealand; “ On the Giant Tortoises”; and 
the vast array of papers on the Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, and occasion- 
ally Birds and Mammals, of every important British expedition, as well as 
collections from every quarter of the globe — from Pole to Pole, and from 
river, lake, sea, and land. The mere perusal of the titles of his papers is no 
light task, whilst every one is the record of a painstaking, laborious research. 
Mr E. A. Smith, one of his colleagues, estimates that, besides the works and 
larger memoirs, there were about 300 papers published in the Journals of 
the London Societies, and that the whole of his writings occupy about ten 
thousand pages, illustrated by a very large number of fine plates and 
text-figures. It is a record remarkable alike for its unswerving devotion 
and notable results, and affords a splendid example to younger men. He 
accomplished much of this work when burdened with the cares of adminis- 
tration, preparing official reports “ in connection with individual members 
of the staff, monthly and annual reports of progress and work accomplished, 
the supervision and editing of catalogues and guides issued by his depart- 
ment, besides the consideration of all proposed acquisitions ” * and the con- 
* E. A. Smith, Zoologist , March 1914, p. 115. 
