!o2 The Irish Naturalist, [April, 



School life at Clifton and Rugby was followed by his entering 

 Cambridge at the age of 20. Here he renewed a friendship, which had 

 a great effect on his after-life. The Shawe-Taylor family, of Castle 

 Taylor, in south Galway, had been the nearest neighbours of the Mores 

 at Renens, and his old play-fellow, Walter Shawe-Taylor, went up to 

 Cambridge at the same time as himself Hence came naturally an invita- 

 tion to More to spend the summer in the west of Ireland, and in June, 1850, 

 he visited for the first time the country which was to be his future home, 

 and with which his name will be always associated. Between university 

 work and vacations spent in natural history pursuits with his family in 

 the Isle of Wight, or with his friends in Ireland, time passed quickly, 

 but serious illness compelled him to relinquish his college career, and 

 from that time forward his life was devoted to natural history, the con- 

 tinuity of his studies and explorations being sadly interfered with by 

 continual breakdowns in health. He became more and more interested 

 in Irish botany and zoology, and at length, in 1864, he proposed to Dr. 

 Moore that they should edit and publish a new Irish Flora. The 

 suggestion was discussed and accepted ; More settled in Dublin for the 

 furtherance of the work, and two years later Cybele Hibernica made its 

 appearance. The remainder of his life is known to all. He had come to 

 Ireland to stay. In 1867 he was appointed " First Assistant Naturalist" 

 in the Royal Dublin Society's Museum, and in 1881, four years after 

 the Museum had been transferred to the Science and Art Department, 

 he succeeded Dr. Carte in the Curatorship, which post he held till 

 failing health compelled him to resign it in 1887. During his twenty 

 years' connection with the Museum, he was ever in the forefront of 

 Irish natural history. The wilds of Galway and Mayo in particular, 

 and the adjoining seas and islands, were visited and explored again and 

 again. As continual illness rendered him less able for these rough ex- 

 peditions, he gathered round him a band of energetic disciples, who, fired 

 by his stimulating zeal and enthusiasm, undertook, with his assistance, 

 the botanical exploration of many of the less known mountain-ranges, 

 lakes, and river-basins. After his retirement, though now completely 

 broken down in health, his house in Rathmines continued to be the 

 rallying point of Irish naturalists almost till the end. He died, after a 

 short illness^ on 22 March, 1895. 



Such is the life which Miss More and Mr. Moflfat present to us, the 

 numerous letters and extracts from Journals skilfully woven together 

 with unobtrusive editorial narrative. Not a striking or romantic life, 

 but one of interest to every naturalist on account of the incessant 

 scientific enthusiasm and earnest seeking after truth that pervades it, 

 and one that appeals especially to ourselves owing to its intimate 

 connection with Irish natural history. The Irish botanist will read 

 with deep interest the story of the discovery oi Neotinea intacia, of fruit- 

 less searches for Erica ciliaris^ of wanderings round the great western 

 lakes, and over the islands of Bofin and Aran. Equally attractive are 

 the stories of boating expeditions along the wild Atlantic coast, of long 

 days spent in hunting the Great Grey Seal, in dredging, in ornithology. 

 In later years, when confined to his room for long intervals, his energy 

 found vent in voluminous correspondence with those who were carrying 



