VARIATIONS ON A THEME: THE THREE DIRECTORS OF THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE J.L.B. SMITH INSTITUTE OF ICHTHYOLOGY

SUMMARY

The author, having known the first three Directors, Professors J.L.B. Smith, M.M. Smith and M.N. Bruton personally, was asked for a account of his recollections and impressions. This account is therefore anecdotal rather than historical. He first knew Professor J.L.B. Smith when an undergraduate, at Rhodes University 194–1948. though he was never Professor Smith's student. In 1972 during Professor M.M. Smith's directorship the author became a research fellow until his retirement in 1984, and has known Professor Bruton since his first appointment to the Department/Institute of Ichthyology.