EDWARD SIIEARBUHN' MARSHALL 5 



and collecting; thus '* some hours " at Ilayling Island enahled him 

 to examine the various forms of ^alicornia and to note other things 

 of which a record will be found in J. J3ot. 1901, 144 ; even a wait 

 between trains was utilised. When it is remembered that Marshall 

 was a keen fishei'man, and also that he himself dried his often 

 very numerous gatherings, it will be understood that his '* holidays " 

 were by no means ])eriods of rest, except such as is afforded by 

 change of occuj)ation. How thoroughly he investigated the plants 

 of his county the " Somerset Plant-Notes " which have appeai-ed 

 annually in this Journal since 1907 sufficiently show. The notes 

 relating to critical genera such as Ilieracium and Bithus, and later 

 Saxifragn and Euphrasia, give, as has already been said, a special 

 value to Marshall's lists ; few have seen so many British and Irish 

 plants growing in their natural conditions, and none have turned 

 their knowledge to better account. 



Although possessed of a very adequate knowledge of British 

 phanerogams in general, Marshall paid special attention to certain 

 genera besides those just mentioned, among them Erophila, Viola^ 

 Epilohium, SaUcornid, and Carex. It was principally among these 

 that he found material on which to base the ncAv forms which he 

 described in this Journal — e. g. Bamincuhis petiolaris (J. Bot. 1892, 

 289^a name afterwards changed to scoticus), Cochlearia micacea 

 (1894, 289), Viola xSmifhiana (1915, 361), HelianthemumX Bick- 

 hami (1913, 182), Stellaria umbrosa var. decipiens (1902, 215), 

 Saxifraga Drucei, S. Sfernhergii var. gracilis, S. liypnoidcs var. 

 rohusta (1918, 65-7), S. X Craufordii (1909, 98), EpilohiumX 

 Waterfallii (1916, 114), Rieracium anfractuosum (1892, 18, 183), 

 K. dovrense var. spectabile (1894, 216), H. Isahellce (1913, 120), 

 H. Slioolhredii (1913, 122), Salicornia disarticulata var. humifusa 

 (1915, 361). The last is associated in my mind with Marshall's 

 enthusiasm as a collector : we had started in the morning for Dawlish 

 Warren, but arrived at Exeter in such pouring rain that Mrs. Mar- 

 shall and I ]n-ef erred to explore the city rather than to face an 

 expedition ; Marshall, however, persevered, and was rewarded with a 

 tinfull of Salieornias which he showed us with triumph when he 

 arrived in the afternoon, wet and weary, at Exeter Station. 



Marshall's critical notes on the genera mentioned and on others, 

 scattered through his lists, also supplied material for special articles. 

 A warm defence of the "critical" as against the "lumping" school 

 will be found in his account of Cochlearia micacea (J. Bot. 1894, 290), 

 where he speaks of the " Benthamie " treatment as "hardly calculated 

 to increase knowledge or promote accuracy " and condemns " Mr. N. 

 E. Brown's crude and offhand dismissal of the Epilobium hybrids " 

 and " Sir J. D. Hooker's laconic condemnation of the Hanburian 

 Hieracia''' " For my own part," he continues, " I think that field- 

 botanists have some ground of complaint when careful and deliberate 

 conclusions, arrived at as the result of long research in the open, the 

 garden, and the study, are hastily tossed as worthless, Avithout their 

 properly investigating the matter, by those whose expressions of 

 opinion deservedly carry great weight, and whobe reasoned criticisms 

 would be very valuable." His own notes were always based, as far as 



