| Citation | Professor of Natural History in University College, Dundee (University of St Andrews). Scientific member of the Fishery Board of Scotland and Director of the Scottish Investigations in connection with the International Council for the Investigation of the North Sea. Prof Thompson's intimate acquaintance with classical literature has enabled him to render great services to modern biology by his publications dealing with Greek writers on natural science, and in particular by his annotated translation of the 'Historia Animalium' of Aristotle (1910), his 'Glossary of Greek Birds' (1895), 'Birds and Beasts in Ancient Symbolism' (Trans Roy Soc Edin, 1895), 'Plato's Theory of the Planets' (Classical Rev, 1910), &c. He has edited Reports I-IV of the North Sea Fishers Investigation Committee (northern area), and is the author of the following reports contained therein: - 'Scottish Trawling Statistics' (1905, 1908); 'Methods and Results of Hydrographical Observations' (1907); 'Salinity of the North Sea and Surface Temperature Observations' (1909); also of various papers and reports in the publications of the International Council for the Investigation of the North Sea (Copenhagen). In 1883 he translated and edited H Muller's 'Fertilization of Flowers,' and in 1909 he published an important article on 'Pycnogonida in the Cambridge Natural History'. Author of various memoirs in Zoology, eg, 'Hydroids of Willem Barents and Vega Expeditions' (1884 and 1887); 'Auditory Labyrinth of Orthagoriscus'; 'Anatomy of Tarsipes'; 'On the Cetacean Larynx'; 'Systematic Position of Hesperornis and Zeuglodon' (Stud Mus Zool, Dundee, 1990); 'Cranial Osteology of the Parrots' (Proc Zool Soc, 1899); 'Pterylography of the Giant Humming Bird' (ibid, 1901); 'Marine Fauna of the Arctic and Antartic Regions' (Proc Roy Soc Edin, 1899); 'Shapes of Eggs' (Nature, 1908), &c. He was in charge of missions to the Behring Sea Seal Fisheries (1896, 1897), and was British Delegate at a conference on the Behring Sea Question (Washington, 1897), for his services in connection with he received the distinction of CB in 1898. He was British Delegate at Fishery Conferences in Stockholm, Christiania, and Copenhagen in 1899, 1901, 1902, and since 1902 he has been one of the two British representives on the International Council for the investigation of the North Sea. He was President Section D of the British Association in 1911. |