A MEMOIE OF EGBERT ETHERIDGE, F.R.S. 
177 
was, as he tells in the preface to his book, “ a native of 
the once free Hanseatic town of Dantzig,” and he appears 
to have been the first curator. .He was succeeded in 1831 
by Samuel Stutchbury, F.G.S., a naturalist of wide know- 
ledge, remembered more particularly for his description, 
in conjunction with Dr. H. Riley, of bones and teeth of the 
Saurians, Thecodontosaurus and PalcBosaurus, which were 
discovered in the Dolomitic Conglomerate in the quarry east 
of Durdham Down, near Bristol. He also named and 
described Plesiosaurus megace^halus from the Lower Lias, 
as well as some fossil mollusca. It is interesting to note 
that many years afterwards (1870) Etheridge read before 
the Geological Society of London a paper on the Dolomitic 
Conglomerate of the Bristol area, in which he gave a 
sketch made by Stutchbury to show the position in which 
the reptilian remains were found. 
The collection of the Bristol Institution in 1835 included 
Ethnological and Antiquarian objects, as well as Zoological, 
Mineralogical, and Geological specimens. Notable among 
the geological treasures was the fine collection of Crinoidea 
formed by Miller, an excellent series of fossils from the 
Lias and Oolites, especially from the Inferior Oolite of 
Dundry, and others from the Greensand of Blackdown 
and Warminster.^ 
Stutchbury retired from the Curatorship of this Museum 
of Natural History in 1850, passing a portion of the later 
years of his life in Australia ^ ; and Robert Etheridge was 
appointed to succeed him. From this it may be inferred 
that he owed much to Stutchbury in the way of preparation 
and recommendation for this responsible position. That 
Etheridge was well qualified for the work he now took in 
hand may be judged from the fact that during his holding 
1 See West of England Journal, 1835, pp. 19, 20 ; and article by 
W. D. Conybeare, p. 98, etc. 
2 He died on February 12, 1859, aged 61. See brief obituary in 
Quart. Journ, Qeol, Soc., vol, xvi. p. xxix. 
