The Scottish Naturalist. 7 



for the Marine Alga, The results of careful and systematic ob- 

 servations on the altitudinal ranges of plants in Aberdeenshire are 

 also given in the latter work. 



The evidences of design in creation possessed a great attrac- 

 tion for him, as manifested alike in the general principles that 

 pervade the universe, in the homologies of structure that may 

 be traced in the various groups of animals and of plants, and 

 in the special adaptations of each individual species of living 

 organism, fitting it for existence amidst its special environments. 

 His studies in this field found expression in a work by him and 

 Dr. M'Cosh entitled, Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation, 

 to which Dr. Dickie contributed chapters on Zoology, Physiology, 

 Botany, Geology, and Physical Geography. In this work various 

 curious and interesting subjects are treated more or less fully — e.g., 

 amongst others, the relation between the modes of branching of 

 trees and shrubs, and the venation of their leaves ; also the 

 arrangements and distribution of colour in plants both in healthy 

 life and in the autumnal changes of leaves. 



Dr. Dickie became a member of the Edinburgh Botanical 

 Society in 1838, and contributed numerous articles to the Trans- 

 actions. In 1877 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the 

 Society. In 1863 he was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society, 

 and in 1881 had the honour of being received into the Royal 

 Society of London. He was also a member of the " Societe des 

 Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg." 



He was one of the original members of the Scottish Crypto- 

 gamic Society, instituted in 1875, an< ^ was several times a member 

 of the Council of the Society. The annual meeting in 1882 was 

 to have been held in Aberdeen under his presidency, in the autumn, 

 but his death anticipated the desire of the Society to show honour to 

 the foremost Scottish algologist. In consequence of his death, the 

 place of meeting was changed to Kenmore, in Perthshire, and the 

 visit of the Society to Aberdeen was deferred till a future year. 



He was also a member of the first Natural History Society 

 known to have existed in Aberdeen, about 1845, and was a 

 member of the present Natural History Society of Aberdeen from 

 its origin in 1863 till his death. He was also a member of the 

 Philosophical Society of Aberdeen, and of the Natural History 

 and Philosophical Society of Belfast. To these various societies 

 he communicated numerous papers, taking a warm interest in the 

 success of the meetings so long as his health permitted him to 

 venture out in the evenings. 



