72 iiAUUN' I'.oi, rs, n.sc. f.l.s. 



was one of those who " were irresistibly compelled to pursue 

 the study." It was to some extent due to Guthrie's influence that 

 in 18(15. when prostrated by tlie death of his eldest son. Bolus 

 sought solace in the stutly of l)otany, which henceforward was 

 his ruling passion. Subsequently he became a member of the 

 Committee of the Botanic Garden ; a proof of the interest which 

 he took in its welfare is found in a sub-leader in The Herald of 

 January 12th. 1875. which opens with the lament, " Mr. McLea 

 is gone. So is Mr. Btilus. ^^'llat is to become of the Botanical 

 Garden?" 



riie study of botany, once commenced, was pursued in that 

 thorough antl efficient manner which characterised all his under- 

 takings. His note-books of the period are filled with technical 

 descriptions, detailed drawings of dissections and lists of his 

 determinations, the evidences of a self-imposed course of train- 

 ing to which nuist be largely attributed the scrupulous accuracy 

 which distinguishes all his botanical work. His tirst Herbarium 

 (\'dnnet was made in August. 1865. In 1867 he commenced a 

 life-long correspondence with Kew. Oi the many friends he 

 made at Kew, an institution to which he was greatly attached, the 

 earliest were .Sir Joseph ] looker and Professor Daniel Oliver, 

 whose assistance in his botanical work he valued very highly, and 

 whose friendship was among the joys of his later life. To 

 improve a weak knowledge of German he translated and after- 

 wards ]:)ublished* an English rendering of Meyer's " Com- 

 mentarii de Plantis Afric;e Australioris." In 1869 he reviewedt 

 the second edition of Harvey's " Genera of South African Plants " 

 in a manner which showed how carefully he had studied the 

 existing literatiux of South African botany. 



At this time the study of Botany in South Africa was in 

 its infancy. A\'hat ]\lacOwan has calletl " the period of the great 

 collectors " was ended. Thunberg, Burchell, Drege, Ecklon and 

 Zeyher had made their famous journeys, and their collections 

 were only partially investigated. The " Thesaurus Capensis " was' 

 recently completed, and the third volume of the " Flora Capensis " 

 had just appeared. i^IacOwan was at work at Somerset East. 

 Pappe's Herbarium had commenced its chequered existence, and 

 shortly afterwards was said to be " in such a state of neglect and 

 inaccessibility as to be a discredit to the Colony. "| Writing in 

 1869. Bolus§ gives the following account of the botanical situa- 

 tion : — 



■"At prosoni tlioso | observers | arc few. A small knot of students 

 in the Eastern Prcnince have already eommenced the work; but two 

 eentres only — Grahanistown and GraafF-Reinet — liave as yet been well 

 explored. To these, others are now being added, as Colesberg, Hope- 

 town. Seymour (in the Katberg) and Kingwilliamstown. Something is 

 now known of the country between the sea and the Snecuwbergen, Bosch- 



* Caf>c Monthly Magacinc 1873-74. 



t The South .ifricatt Magaciuc, vol. iii (i860). 



t Gnuiff-Ri'i)ict Hrmid, April 11. 1874. 



S Tfu' South African Mugazinf. vol. iii (1869). 



