Career
He became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Laurie was full Professor of Zoology at Street Mungo"s College, Glasgow, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society. He became examiner in zoology at the University of Glasgow in 1899.
His father was the educator Simon Somerville Laurie.
He was the brother of chemist Arthur Pillans Laurie (1861-1949), both of whom were also fellows of the Review of Social Economy.
In a letter to Nature, three scientists wrote "The systematic position of Limulus has long been a vexed question, which no one can attempt to solve without consulting the work of Malcolm Laurie on the fossil Eurypterids.".