OBITUAEY. 



ALEXANDER CROALL. 



AMONG those that have done most to extend the knowledge of 

 Scotch botany in the generation now passing from among us, 

 a high rank must be assigned to Mr. Alexander Croall, who died, 

 after a long illness, on the 19th May last, in Stirling. In Dr. 

 Smiles' recent work, Men of Invention and Industry^ an account 

 of his life will be found, written with the usual felicity of style of 

 the author. Mr. Croall was at one time a parish schoolmaster in 

 the neighbourhood of Montrose. Here he devoted his spare 

 moments earnestly to his favourite pursuit of botany, ana on the 

 recommendation of Sir William Hooker, to whom he had become 

 known, he was employed to prepare sets of the plants of Braemar, 

 both flowering plants and cryptogams, at the desire of the Queen 

 and of Prince Albert. He prepared a considerable number of sets, 

 which have mostly been deposited in public herbaria. The 

 specimens in these sets are well-selected and carefully prepared. 



In 1859 he undertook, along with Mr. Johnstone, the prepara- 

 tion of a large work on British Algse, under the title, " British Sea- 

 weeds, Nature-printed." It appeared in four large 8vo volumes, 

 with nature-printed plates, from drawings by him, of all the species 

 that he could procure ; those of which he was unable to obtain 

 specimens are illustrated by woodcuts from other works. The 

 book at once gave him scientific reputation. For some time he held 

 the position of librarian to the Derby Museum, and had charge of 

 the herbarium connected with it. On the establishment of the 

 Smith Institute in Stirling in 1874, he was appointed curator in it, 

 and, after a time librarian of the Macfarlane Free Library, and 

 retained these posts until his death. He had reached his seventy- 

 sixth year. On the formation of the Stirling Field Club (now the 

 Archaeological and Natural History Society of Stirling) some years 

 ago, he was elected President, an honour held by him till his 



