8 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



usually take part in discussions unless appealed to on some 

 botanical point by the chairman. This was no doubt due to the 

 unobtrusive and retiring disposition which formed a marked 

 feature in his character. 



On 21st April. 1874, he exhibited a case of Chilian insects at 

 a meeting of the Glasgow Society of Field Naturalists, and at the 

 following meeting (5th May) he was elected a member of that 

 Society. At many subsequent meetings he exhibited specimens, 

 which included collections of beetles, butterflies, marine shells, 

 plants, (kc, from Chile and South Patagonia. Various papers on 

 Botany and Natural History were also read by him to the Society. 

 On the occasion of the visit of the British Association to Glasgow 

 in 1876, an attempt was made by members of the Field 

 Naturalists' Society to compile lists of the local fauna and flora. 

 The catalogue of Mammalia, which includes 33 species and 

 varieties, was prepared by Mr. King ; and it still remains the 

 most recent contribution to our local natural history, so far as the 

 department to which it relates is concerned. In 1877 he was 

 elected a member of Council. On behalf of the Field Naturalists' 

 Society, he took a prominent part in the negotiations which re- 

 sulted in its fusion with our own Society in 1879. 



The Glasgow Eastern Botanical Society was founded in April, 

 1876, by Dr. Mathie (then Lecturer on Botany in the Eastern 

 Mechanics' Institute) and by some of his students. Mr. King 

 joined as a member at the first meeting. When he afterwards 

 succeeded Dr. Mathie as Lecturer in the Institute, he also as- 

 sumed the presidentship of the Society, which he has ever since 

 retained. The continued prosperity of the Society has been 

 largely due to his influence and aid. 



On 30th October, 1878, he was elected a member of the Natural 

 History Society of Glasgow, and in the following April, at the 

 close of the session, the negotiations for union with the Field 

 Naturalists were brou2;ht to a successful termination. One of the 

 conditions under which the union had been efiected was that a 

 Summer Session should be established, and in 1879 Mr. King 

 acted as Secretarv durinoj the first Summer Session of the united 

 Societies. In the following October he was elected a member of 

 Council, and in 1880 he again acted as Summer Secretary. In 

 October, 1880, his appointment to the Council was renewed for a 



