148 



J. G. AGARDH 

 (1813-1901). 



Jacob Georg Agardh, who died on January 17th last, was born 

 at Lund on December 8, 1813. He was the son of Dr. Carl Adolf 

 Agardh, who was at one tune a professor at Lund University, and 

 afterwards became bishop in the diocese of Karlstad. Both father 

 and son devoted their botanical energy to the study of marine algae, 

 the elder Agardh laying the foundation and the son continuing the 

 work till within a few months of his death. Jacob Agardh studied 

 at the University of Lund, which he entered as a student in 1826 : 

 in 1832 he became doctor of philosophy, docent in 1834, and 

 demonstrator of botany in 1836. In 1847 he became extraordinary 

 professor, and in 1854 he was made ordinary professor, which post 

 he held till 1879, when he retired. 



The first few papers he published were on botanical subjects 

 other than marine algae ; but in 1836 appeared his first paper in 

 the branch of botany of which he was to become so great a master. 

 From that year till shortly before his death he continued to write 

 on marine algae, and leaves behind him a monument of labour 

 and learning. His greatest work is the Species Genera et Oi dines 

 Algarum, of which the first volume was published in 1848, and dealt 

 with the group of PhBophjcem. Four volumes on Floridem followed, 

 the last being a revision and enlargement of the first two. The 

 CoralUne(By published in the second volume, were treated by Prof. 

 Areschoug, and were not revised by Prof. Agardh in his later work ; 

 indeed, that group was never worked oat by him, though he wrote 

 so much on other orders of Floridece. The ChlorophycecB were 

 also neglected by him as a whole, though he deals at some length 

 with the group of Siplionea in his great work Till Algernes Systeniatik, 

 published between 1872 and 1890. This consists of a series of 

 monographs on various genera, including descriptions of many new 

 species, and may indeed be regarded as an amplification of parts of 

 his earlier work, the Species, Genera et Ordines, mentioned above. 

 In 1879, Prof. Agardh published an important work, Florideernes 

 Morphologie, and in 1889 a monograph entitled Species Sargassorum 

 Australia^ with good coloured and other figures. In 1892, when in 

 his eightieth year, he issued the first part of a new work on the 

 lines of Till Algernes Sy^Umatik, entitled Analecta Alyilogict, and 

 this he continued to publish till within a few months of his death. 

 It is not to be expected that the work in these last few parts could 

 be equal to that of his earlier life, but the very fact rhat a man of 

 his advanced age could continue to work and publish the results 

 shows his untiring energy and interest in his subject. 



Prof. Agardh received much material from Australia, where 

 Miss Hussey and others collected for him, and from his position in 

 the world of phycology, many plants must have been continually 

 passing through his hands. A large number of specimens in the 

 Kew Herbarium are named in his handwriting, and the herbarium 

 of the late Mr. Bracebridge Wilson, now in the British Museum, 



