Abstract: Professor H. W. Wu was born in 1900 in Rui'an County, Zhejiang (Chekiang) Province. After his graduation from the Zoology Department of Xiamen (Amoy) University in 1927, he joined the teaching staff in the Biology Department of the Central University in Nanjing (Nanking). He was conferred a Doctor of Science degree in University of Paris in 1932. In 1934—36 he was professor in embryology, invertebrate zoology and vertebrate taxonomy in the Biology Department of the Central University in Nanjing, and became the Head of that Department and professor in comparative anatomy in 1936—37.In the war years from 1937 to 1945, he was a Senior Scientist in the Institute of Zoology and Botany in Beibei, Chongqing (Chungking), and, in 1941—43, held a position concurrently as professor in zoology in Fu Dan University, then in Beibei, too. In 1947—48 he was concurrently professor in parasitology in the Jiangsu (Kiangsu) Medical College.From 1950 to 1976, he was the Deputy Director of the Institute of Hydrobiology, Academia Sinica, where he was in charge of the ichthyological studies of the Institute. In 1977, he was appointed the Director of the Institute, and later, the President of the Wuhan Branch of Academia Sinica. In 1983 he was the Honorary Director of the In- stitute of Hydrobiology, A. S.He died of sickness on April 3rd, 1985, at the age of eighty-six.Prof. Wu was among the founders of the Zoological Society of China, the Chinese Society of Oceanology and Limnology, as well as the Chinese Ichthyological Society, and was Honorary President of the latter two Societies. He was Member of the Division of Biological Sciences, Academia Sinica. Abroad, he was a member of the International Society of Bcotoxicology and Environmental Safety (SECOTOX), and also member of the International Academy of Environmental Safety (IAES) in Neuherber, Fed. Rep. of Germany. Besides, he was elected Foreign Member of the Linnean Society (F. M. L .S.) of London in 1983.Prof. Wu attended the ⅩⅢ Congress of SIL (International Society of Limnology) held in Helsinki. As delegate of PRC he attended various sessions of West Pacific Fisheries Research Commission held in Moscow, Pingyang, Beijing, etc. respectively. In 1964 he made a study tour of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Cuba with special reference to hydrobiological research activities.With some ninety papers covering a wide spectrum of zoological studies, Prof. Wu's major contributions to science are the two-volumed Monograph on Chinese Cyprinidae (Pisces), comprising 113 genera and 412 species, with systematic description and refined illustrations. The Monograph is not only indispensable to the studies of Chinese freshwater fishes, but also of great importance for the studies on the cyprinid fishes of the world. Volume ⅰ of this monograph has already been rendered into Japanese in Japan. The studies on a taxonomical system and phylogenetie relationship of the families of the Suborder Cyprinoidei (Pisces) constitute another important contribution, and the systematics expounded in this work has been adopted, in the main, by J. S. N-elson's recent edition of "Fishes of the World" (1983). Besides, Prof. Wu played a leading role in establishing the largest freshwater fish museum in Asia, embodying some 200,000 specimens and substituting a large number of topotypes for type specimens that had been scattered abroad.Though a man of great renown, Prof. Wu was always modest and amiable, generous and helpful. He was truly a reverend teacher and a beloved friend. It is with deep respect and warm feelings that the Institute of Hydrobiology presents this article to his memory.