OBITUARY NOTICES 261 



OBITUARY NOTICES. 



Charles Cardale Babington, M.A., F.R.S., etc., Professor of 

 Botany in the University of Cambridge. Professor Babington was 

 one who did so much to widen our acquaintance with the flora of 

 Scotland that, though not himself of Scotch descent, nor officially 

 connected with the country, his death ought not to be passed un- 

 noticed in our columns. 



Born at Ludlow in 1808, he studied at Cambridge, where he 

 graduated B.A. in 1830, and M.A. in 1833. His first original 

 work in science was entomological; and between 1829 and 1844 

 he published a number of papers on insects. Among these was 

 one of two pages, entitled " Catalogue of Insects found at Berwick- 

 upon-Tweed in August 1834, which was read to the Berwickshire 

 Naturalists' Club in 1834. Somewhat later he became absorbed in 

 Systematic Botany ; and he has long held a high rank in this study 

 in Great Britain. His "Manual of British Botany" has passed 

 through eight editions, and is held in high esteem because of the 

 clearness and accuracy of its descriptions. It has had a great 

 influence during a long period on the advancement of botanical 

 investigation among us ; and it will continue to be used, even 

 though not now fully representative of the results, both extensive 

 and valuable, of the critical work of recent years work with which 

 the author's age and health prevented so close a familiarity as in 

 former years. Besides the " Manual," Professor Babington con- 

 tributed largely to botanical literature in numerous papers on 

 critical genera or species of British plants. Among the longer of 

 such contributions were his " Synopsis of the British Rubi " con- 

 tributed (like many others of his papers) to the Transactions of the 

 Edinburgh Botanical Society (ii.-iii.) and to the Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History (1846-48), and his " Notes on Rubi" 

 in the Journal of Botany (1878). In these and similar papers 

 he noted the occurrence of the plants under discussion in Scot- 

 land where known to him. In 1834 he published "An Account of 

 some Additions to the Flora of Berwickshire " (Trans. Benv. Nat. 

 Club}; and in 1891 a "List of Plants found in the Valley of 

 Braemar and on Morrone" (Scot. Nat., 1891, pp. 81-85, I 3 2 - I 36, 

 174-184). He also, in conjunction with the late Professor J. H. 

 Balfour of Edinburgh, published (Trans. Ed. Bot. Soc. 1844), an 

 " Account of a Botanical Excursion to Skye and the Outer Hebrides 

 during the month of August 1841 " (pp. 133-144), followed by a 

 "Catalogue of the Plants gathered in the Islands of North Uist, 

 Harris, and Lewis" (pp. 145-154). 



During several years, till his health rendered him unable to do 

 so, he used to spend part of each summer in Braemar. Since 1861 

 he has held the Professorship of Botany in Cambridge, where he 

 died on 22nd July 1895. 



