-
INTRODUCTION
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
INTRODUCTION The idea for a Symposium on the Bivalvia was discussed by the few students of this group present a t th e Eight h Internationa l Malacologica l Congres s o f Unita s Malacologic a i n Budapest in 1983. Following the decision to convene the next Congress in Edinburgh in 1986 I, as a retiring member of the UNITAS Council, formally proposed that this meeting organize a Symposium on the Bivalvia in honour of Sir Maurice Yonge in the city of his residence. This suggestion was unanimously agreed to and I was rewarded with the task of organizing the Symposium i n co-operatio n wit h Davi d Heppell , Presiden t o f Unitas (1983-1986 ) an d organizer of the 1986 Congress. I wrote to Maurice with the news of this honour and in his reply he expressed great joy and gratitude, but dourly made reference to his doubts that he would still be alive at that time. He had been ill since the Seventh International Malacological Congress at Perpignan in 1980, where he developed speech difficulties as an early symptom of an as yet undiagnosed illness, but gamely managed to give his lecture on adaptive radiation in the Pectinacea, a group which had fascinated him for over forty years. His family and friends were of course deeply worried by this illness, especially since Maurice was then in his 81st year. He, however, seemed less concerned and within five days of his return to Edinburgh was off on a lecture tour of the United States. He managed to present a paper to the History of Oceanography Congress at Woods Hole but was unable to give a scheduled Public Lecture at the Smithsonian Institution and a seminar to colleagues in the Geology Department of that museum was to be his last speaking engagement. Following his return to Edinburgh, Parkinsonism was diagnosed and Maurice becam e progressivel y weake r a s th e symptom s o f thi s physicall y debilitatin g disease inexorably exerted themselves. But, with loving nursing by his wife, Phyllis, and son Christopher and future daughter-in-law Elizabeth, in 1983 we still believed Maurice would live for ever. After all, his mind was as razor-sharp as it had always been and he was still writing and publishing research papers. In that year he reviewed symmetry in the mantle margin and thus celebrated 60 years of research publications on the Bivalvia. His last paper (with J.A. Allen) on the Mesodesmatacea was published in March 1986. The 1986 Symposium was thus to be a celebration of Maurice's 86 years, of 63 years of publishing, of his contribution to the Bivalvia and of the man. Maurice gained his first degree at Edinburgh University in 1922 and following a distinguished career returned to his alma mater in 1970 as a Research Fellow. In 1983, when the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of which he was the Senio r past President, wa s celebrating it s bicentenary an d th e University o f Edinburgh its four hundredth anniversary, Maurice was presented for award of an honorary doctorate. A symposiu m i n his honour, i n 1986 , in the city whic h held s o many happ y memories for him thus seemed to be an appropriate tribute from his malacological friends and colleagues, and the international malacological society he had so strongly supported. Sadly, Maurice was not to live to see his Symposium for he died, peacefully, on 17 March 1986. He had, however, seen the programme for the Symposium, approved of it and was especially delighted that among the participants were a number of his past research students, now distinguished i n their own right, and even, as in my own case, research student s of research students. The collection of papers published in this volume were read at the Symposium but have also benefited fro m peer review. A few presented papers were not considered suitable for 2 INTRODUCTION publication by the referees and thus have been omitted. It is the hope of all contributors to this volume that the published papers constitute a modest memorial to the lifelong researche s upon the Bivalvia by Maurice Yonge. I know, had he lived, that Maurice would have enjoyed the Symposium and enthusiastically contributed to the discussions. In the preparation of their papers, authors were particularly requested to take cognizance of Maurice's contribution to their chosen field of research and...