842 
THE LATE DR. T. WRIGII 
Literary and Philosophic Association was founded he became one of 
its most active members, and was for some time its President. During 
different sessions he delivered several courses of lectures on compara¬ 
tive physiology, natural history, and palaeontology. 
During the earlier period of his professional life he devoted much 
time to microscopic anatomy, but owing to the effect it had on his 
eyesight he turned his attention more particularly to Palaeontology, 
selecting the oolitic rocks of the Cotteswold Hills as his especial field 
for study. Indefatigable as a worker he first made a large collection 
of the echinoderms, not only from localities in the vicinity but likewise 
from other oolitic formations, respecting the minute anatomy of which 
he read to the Cotteswold Field Club a series of memoirs, which 
were published in the “ Annals and Magazine of Natural History.” 
These attracted the attention of Professor Edward Forbes, F.B.S., 
who proposed to Dr. Wright that they should conjointly write a 
monograph on the British Fossil Echinodermata for the Palseonto- 
grapliical Society, those of the cretaceous and tertiary epochs being 
described and figured by the former and the oolitic ones by the latter. 
Professor Forbes, however, died prior to the completion of his portion 
of the work, consequently when Dr. Wright had finished the oolitic 
Ecliinidas he was requested by the council of the society to undertake 
his late colleague’s allotted task; this he acceded to, and in I860 
commenced the description, with figures, of all the cretaceous species, 
which occupied him more than twenty years, and forms a large quarto 
volume of 370 pages with 80 magnificent plates. 
In 1875, at the solicitation of the council of the same society, Dr. 
Wright commenced an extensive work upon the “Lias Ammonites of 
the British Isles,” materials for which he had been collecting for 
upwards of forty years, and which was completed in 1883 in a volume 
consisting of 500 pages of text, with nearly ninety plates. The whole 
of these works constitute four large quarto volumes, with 234 plates 
and 1,553 pages of descriptive letterpress. During this time he 
examined many public and private collections both in British and 
Foreign museums in order to compare all indigenous forms with such 
as are found on the continent. The accomplishment of this self- 
imposed task was the pleasure and delight of his life, and the Council 
of the Geological Society awarded him the Wollaston gold medal. He 
was elected a Fellow of the Boyal Society of Edinburgh in 1855, of the 
Geological Society in 1859, and of the Boyal Society of London 
in 1879. 
He took a deep interest in all subjects which tended to raiso the 
moral or intellectual character of his fellow-men, and when asked was 
always ready and willing to lecture upon useful subjects. A fluent 
and impressive speaker, he appeared to throw some new light upon 
every question which he touched, while no one was ever more ready to 
afford information to or assist a worker upon any subject he was 
engaged upon. 
