PETER EWING 



297 



received a somewhat meagre education, and after assisting his 

 father for some years, at the age of seventeen was sent to learn 

 the trade of joiner. Eemoving afterwards to Glasgow, where he 

 attended evening classes for a time and thus to some extent made 

 up for the defects of his early training, he ohtained a post in the 

 Phoenix Fire Assurance Association. By the ability and by the 

 zeal with which he performed his work, he obtained promotion 



and finally attained the important position of local or district 

 secretary. This he held until his retirement shortly before his 

 death, which took place on August 3, 1913. 



E wing's interest in plants began when he was still a boy, and in- 

 creased as years went on. He took advantage of every opportunity 

 to search for new plants, so that when in 1879 he became a 

 member of the Glasgow Natural History Society he was already 

 a competent field botanist as to flowering plants ; he had also 

 devoted a good deal of attention to mosses and hepatics. He 

 took a prominent part in the work of the Society, often acting as 

 botanical leader at the excursions. He several times filled the office 

 of Vice-President, and for a period occupied the President's chair. 

 Journal of Botany. — Vol. 52. [November, 191-4.] z 



