182 MR. CARRUTHEKS'S RETIREMENT. 



cabbage, is not a savoury one), and were then carefully brolccn up 

 and washed several times, until the impalpable colouring matter 

 had all been got rid of. The mosses and seeds were then easily 

 found and picked out. The residue consisted of bits of wood and 

 epidermis, with a large quantity of fragments of cuticle, wings and 

 legs of beetle, to which I attribute the unpleasantness attending 

 the operation of boiling. 



The present specimens were washed up during south-easterly 

 gales, and appear to have come from submerged forests in Wey- 

 mouth Bay, where the fishermen sometimes find pieces of peat in 

 their nets. There is nothing to fix the age of the deposit, unless it 

 be the presence of Xi/mphfca seeds, and there be any truth in the 

 theory that Nywplma was introduced by the Romans. The absence 

 of all traces of detritus from the deposit shows that the latter was 

 laid down in stagnant water. 



There is a vast quantity of peat ever going to waste on our 

 shores ; and to any one who may feel inclined to analyse it I would 

 say that it is expedient that he should make himself acquainted 

 with all the parts of aquatic plants, and should collect the seeds of 

 these and of water-side plants, keeping them for convenience of 

 examination in small glass tubes. Moreover, he should have a good 

 memory for isolated facts; for seeds do not admit of any simple 

 scheme of classification. And, finally, he must not expect to find 

 any information about them in the ordinary floras. 



MR. CARRUTHERS'S RETIREMENT. 



Fn'E years ago it was my lot to chronicle the changes which 

 resulted on the retirement of Prof. Oliver from his official connection 

 with the Kew Herbarium. It now becomes my duty to announce 

 that Mr. Carruthers, having reached the limit of age allowed by the 

 rules of the Civil Service, abandoned his long connection with the 

 British Museum on the 29th of May. The news will come upon 

 botanists with some suddenness, owing to the fact that the Trustees 

 of the Museum had recommended the retention of Mr. Carruthers's 

 valuable services for a further period ; but the Treasury declined to 

 grant their recommendation. 



Mr. Carruthers entered the Museum on Aug. 25th, 1859, to fill 

 the vacancy caused by the succession of Mr. J. J. Bennett to the 

 post of Keeper on the death of Robert Brown. He was then the 

 only assistant in the Department of Botany, the work of which 

 to a considerable extent devolved upon him ; and when Mr. Bennett 

 in his turn retired from the service, it was natural and fitting that 

 Mr. Carruthers should be promoted to the vacant post. Not long 

 before this he had received a flattering offer from Asa Gray to 

 accompany him to Harvard, and take part in the development of 

 botanical work there. It was characteristic of Mr. Bennett that he 

 in no way attempted to influence his assistant with regard to the 

 acceptance of this offer. 



