OBITUARY NOTICES. 313 



DiatomacecB. His death occurred at West Kensington on July 

 22ud. 



Joseph Thomson, the African traveller, who died in London on 

 Aug. 2nd, had no claim to be considered a botanist, but in 1882-3 

 made a " small but very interesting " collection of plants in 

 Eastern Equatorial Africa, which are enumerated by Prof. Oliver 

 in Joiirn. Linn. Soc. xxi. 397-406, with a prefatory note by Sir 

 J. D. Hooker. The plants were among the first received from 

 Kilimanjaro, Laikipia, and Lake Naivasha (which last, ortho- 

 graphical purists* will regret to observe, are spelt •' Lykipia " 

 and "Naivaska" or " Naivascha"), and include many interesting 

 novelties, some, such as hnpatiens Thomsoni, named after the 

 discoverer. Thomson was born at Penpont, near Thornhill, 

 Dumfriesshire, Feb. 14th, 1860. A biography, with portrait, 

 will be found in The Geographical Journal for September. 



Isaac Sprague, the artist who illustrated so charmingly Asa 

 Gray's unfortunately incomplete Genera of Plants of the Northern 

 United States, was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, Sept. 5th, 

 1811. He began life as a carriage painter, but soon took up 

 natural history, drawing plants and birds. He attracted the 

 notice of Audubon, and, in 1844, of Asa Gray, who employed 

 him to make drawings for his Text-book and botanical charts for 

 his lectures. In 1845 Sprague established himself in Cambridge 

 (Mass.), and devoted his time to scientific work. He illustrated a 

 large number of papers by Asa Gray and others, but his published 

 figures represent but a small portion of his drawings. His death took 

 place at his house in Wellesley Hills, Mass., on the 15th of March : 

 Torrey's genus Spraguea commemorates him. Further particulars 

 regarding Sprague will be found in Garden and Forest for March 

 27th, from which this notice is condensed. 



The Botanical Gazette for August contains a biography by Mr. 

 G. E. Davenport of the late Prof. Eaton, accompanied by an 

 excellent portrait. Daniel Cady Eaton was born at Fort Gratiot, 

 Michigan, on Sept. 12th, 1834. He came of a botanical stock ; 

 bis grandfather, Amos Eaton, was one of the pioneers of American 

 botany, and published largely on that subject between 1816 and 

 1840, and his father was interested in scientific pursuits. After 

 graduating at Yale, he entered Harvard, where he began the 

 systematic study of botany under Asa Gray. He subsequently 

 (1864) became Professor of Botany at Yale, where he remained 

 until his death, which happened at New Haven, Connecticut, on 

 June 29th. His published work mainly relates to ferns, his most 

 important book being that on The Ferns of the United States, in two 

 handsome volumes (1879-80). There is also a biography, portrait, 

 and bibliography of Eaton in the Jhdletin of the Torrey Club for 

 August (dated Aug. 31). 



A MEMOIR with portrait of John Howard Eedfield was given in 

 the Bulletin of the Torrey Club for April. Mr. Eedfield was born m 

 Connecticut, July 10th, 1815, and died at Philadelphia on Feb. 27th. 



* See Journ. Bot. 1895, 64. 



