WILLIAM RAMSAY M'NAB. 51 



Dr. Hackel gives the following description : — " Differt a typo pani- 

 cula depauperata, ramo primario imo trispiculato, secundario 1-2- 

 spiculato (ut in F. praterm, a qua differt foliorurn structura, 

 forinaque spicularum) " ; and adds, " It would be very desirable for 

 you to cultivate this doubtful plant, as only then can we learn 

 whether it is worth while to give it a special name. In any case 

 it is very near the F. arundinacea subv. strictior, Hack. Monogr." I 

 gathered a plant, not far off, which is assigned to this subvariety, 

 answering to the figure of " F. elatior a. genuina " in Synie, E. B. 

 (fide Hackel, 1. c, p. 154). Its description is : — " Laminae angus- 

 tiores (3-5 mm. lat.) et breviores, rigidae, siccando subconvolutaa, 

 liguhe manifestiores. Panicula brevior (usque 15 cm. lg.), stricta, 

 vix nutans, ramis patulis strictis, post anthesin contracta. Spicule 

 precedentis [i. e., " subvar. vulgaris "] . 



As I may not soon revisit the neighbourhood, I think it better 

 to publish the form in question, in the hope that a local botanist 

 may further investigate the matter. My knowledge of F. arun- 

 dinacea does not warrant any definite opinion. 



In conclusion, I beg leave to acknowledge my great obligation 

 to Prof. Hackel, and to thank the staff at the Natural History 

 Museum for help in looking out references, &c. 



WILLIAM RAMSAY McNAB. 



William Ramsay McNab, M.D., who died in Dublin very suddenly 

 of heart disease, on December 3rd, 1889, was born on the 9th of 

 November, 1844, in Edinburgh, where his grandfather and father 

 in succession held office as Curators of the Botanic Garden. 



Dr. McNab obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the 

 University of Edinburgh when 22 years of age. Even while an 

 undergraduate he was appointed assistant to the late Professor 

 Balfour, who then held the Edinburgh Botanical Chair ; he also 

 studied botany under Professors Braun and Koch, and pathological 

 anatomy and histology under Professor Virchow in Berlin. 



After three years of medical practice he was appointed to the 

 Professorship of Natural History in the Royal Agricultural College, 

 Cirencester, and thenceforth devoted himself entirely to botany. 

 Two years later he succeeded to the Chair of Botany in the Royal 

 College of Science, Dublin, which he held until his death. The 

 position of Scientific Superintendent of the Royal Botanical 

 Gardens was created for him by the Science and Art Department 

 in 1880. He was Consulting Botanist and Entomologist to the 

 Royal Dublin Society, Extern Examiner in Botany, Victoria 

 University, and was in 1888 appointed Swiney Lecturer on Geology 

 in the British Museum. In 1877 he became a Fellow of the 

 Linnean Society. 



Professor McNab made numerous contributions to science, 

 especially on the morphology and physiology of plants. The Royal 

 Society's ' Catalogue of Scientific Papers ' enumerates 33 of these, 

 published between 1866 and 1875, and he continued to add to their 



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