lO The Irish Nai2l?alist, January, 



differences of opinion might reasonably exist, bnt, bearing in mind the 

 class of readers for whom the bock is produced, it is not necessar}' to 

 enter into a discussion of them here. On the whole the book appears 

 to be admirabl}' adapted for its purpose, and it is to be hoped that it 

 may find its way into the hands of many young naturalists in Ireland. 

 For, while a considerable amount of attention is being paid at the present 

 time in this island to the parasitic and economically important fungi, 

 which this lxx)k does not pretend to deal with, there is a serious lack of 

 workers in the groups of larger fungi which this book treats of so well, 

 and the distribution of which in Ireland, particularly in the west, has 

 been hitherto unfortunately so much neglected, 



G.H.P. 



OBITXJARY. 



FREDERICK PRYOR BALKWILL. 



F. P. r>alkwill was the eldest child of Joseph Hancock Balkwill, and 

 was born at Plymouth on 24th December, 1S32. A member of the Society 

 of Friends, he was educated at the Quaker Schools of Hitchin audSidcot. 

 Kntering the family business of Balkwill and Co. at Plymouth for ap- 

 prenticeship, he passed to Messrs. Allen and Hanbury's, being registered 

 in the Pharmaceutical Society in December, 1854. Becoming a partner 

 in the Plymouth house, he became a leading man in public affairs in that 

 town. Finding indoor occupation irksome, he retired from the business, 

 and in 1873 removed with his family to Ireland, settling in Dublin. He 

 returned to England in 1883, living successively at Birmingham, Eves- 

 ham, Nottingham, and finally at York, where he died while writing a 

 letter to his daughter. He was long troubled with angina pectoris, and a 

 mental breakdown about 1902 checked his activity in recent years. He 

 died on November 3rd, 1909. 



Mr. Balkwill was a Fellow of the Linnean Society, retiring in 1874, and 

 devoted much attention to the botany of the West of England. He was 

 a well-known chess player and climber, and his deep religious convic- 

 tions led him often to open-air preaching. 



F. P. Balkwill's contributions to science were as follows: — 



The Foraminifera of Galway. lotim. Mtcrosc. Nat. Sci., \'d\. iW., 1884, 



pp. 19-26, 78-90, 4 pis. (with F. W. Millett.) 

 Recent Foraminifera of Dublin and Wicklovv. Proc. A\ Irish Acad. 



(2), vol. iii., 1882, pp. 546-550. (with Joseph Wright.) 

 Report on some recent Foraminifera found off the coast of Dublin 

 and in the Irish Sea. Trans. R. Irish Acad., vol. xxviii., 1885, 

 Science, pp. 317-372, 3 pis. (with Joseph Wright.) 

 We are indebted to Miss Margaret A. Balkwill for the above par- 

 ticulars. 



C. Davies Sherborn. 



