2 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Brazil, organised by the Amazon Steam Navigation Company. 

 In the wilds of Brazil, on the malarious banks of the Amazon 

 and its tributaries, where the expedition covered more 

 than 16,000 miles in the course of some two years. Trail's 

 medical knowledge stood him in good stead, and the large 

 and valuable collections, both of animals and plants, with 

 which he returned in 1875 established his name as an 

 observer, collector, and explorer. Subsequent investigation 

 showed that of new forms alone his efforts had added several 

 hundreds of species to the known flora of the Amazon basin. 

 On his return to Scotland, Trail resumed, along with the 

 working out of his collections, his medical studies, with such 

 effect that in 1876 he graduated M.B., with highest honours. 

 Successes followed fast : he was appointed botanist to the 

 Government of Guiana, but before he set sail failing health 

 caused the retiral of Professor Dickie, and in 1877, at the 

 age of 26, Trail was nominated by the Crown to fill the 

 Chair of Botany in the University of Aberdeen. For forty- 

 three sessions he conducted his classes with great energy 

 and success, and, in spite of occasional indifferent health, 

 it was his boast that he never during that long period 

 absented himself from a single meeting. Outside bodies 

 recognised the value of his services and appreciated them. 

 He was at one time an enthusiastic Volunteer and a Major 

 in the Artillery ; he served on many educational bodies and 

 committees in the University and in the city of Aberdeen ; 

 he was President at one period or another of the Aberdeen 

 Natural History and Antiquarian Society, of the Aberdeen 

 Working Men's Natural History and Scientific Society 

 (1886), of the Buchan Field Club (1903), of the Botanical 

 Section of the British Association (1910), and in 1893 was 

 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Death came upon 

 him in his sixty-ninth year, in the midst of his labours, 

 while he still looked forward to years of service and was 

 planning fresh schemes for recording, with a degree of detail 

 which has never yet been attempted, the flora of those parts 

 of Scotland which he himself had investigated. 



Professor Trail has been long identified with the develop- 

 ment of the knowledge of Scottish natural history. With 



