XXa SOUTH xVFRICA MEDAL. 



SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL AND FUND. 



(Raised hy Members of the Britisli Association in connneinnirilion of their'visit 

 to Soiit/i Africa in 1905.) 



In the unavoidable absence of Dr. H. Bolus, to whom the Medal 

 had been awarded. His Excellency Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams, 

 President of the Association, after the conclusion of Mr. Cullen's 

 lecture in the Town Hall, Bloemfontein, on Thursday, September 

 30, handed the Medal to Dr. C. F. Juritz for conveyance to Dr. 

 Bolus. In doing so His Excellency said : " Before we leave this 

 evening I have a very j)leasant task to perform. This opportunity 

 will be taken by me for presenting to a representative of Dr. Harry 

 Bolus, F.L.S.. the South Africa Medal, annually awarded by this 

 Association. The South Africa Medal was founded by the members 

 of the British Association to commemorate their meeting in South 

 Africa in 1905. After their return to England a sum of money was 

 collected by that Association for the purpose of furnishing annually 

 a medal and a sum of money to be given to persons whose scientific 

 work is likely to be usefully continued by them in the future. Last 

 year the distinction fell to Dr. Theiler of the Transvaal. The 

 Medal for iqcq and a Grant of ^^50 has been awarded by the Council 

 of the vSouth African Association to Dr. Harry Bolus, Fellow of the 

 Linnaean Society. 



" Dr. Harry Bolus is a gentleman of the age of 75 years, born 

 in England, who arrived in South Africa about fifty years ago 

 and commenced the study of botany at Graaff-Reinet with the 

 late Professor Guthrie. Since then, animated by the true scientific 

 spirit, and seeking no reward, he has devoted the best years of a 

 long life to the advancement of the knowledge of South African 

 Botany. ' He has made numerous botanical trips, including 

 Namaqualand in 1883, Delagoa Bay in 1886, Pondoland and the 

 country about the Mont-aux-Sources in 1896, Transvaal in 1904, 

 and Swaziland in 1905. His reputation as a systematic botanist 

 is world wide and deservedly, high. On two of the most difficult 

 groups of South African plants, viz., the heaths and the orchids, 

 he is the leading authority. His monograph on heaths, published 

 three years ago, will for many years remain the standard work of 

 the group. His illustrated account of the orchids of the Cape 

 Peninsula, published in 1888. and his descriptions of 100 species 

 of South African orchids, profusely illustrated by his own drawings, 

 are the only works dealing comprehensively with the subject. His 

 classical paper on the Flora of South Africa from a geographical 

 point of view, first published in 1888 and since revised and re- 

 printed in English and German, was the first satisfactory account 

 of the complex relations of the flora of the sub-continent, and is 

 still the most important work on the subject. 



" The pages of the Journal of the Linnaean Society and the 

 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society bear 

 testimony to his careful research. He has exerted a quiet though 

 powerful influence on botanical research in the sub-continent. 



