KOBEirr BKltTinVAITK 1-) 



when eyesight began to fail him, and he was often glad to call in my 

 aid to do some " devilling " for him. 



Dr. IJraithwaite was not a great field botanist. Trematodoit 

 amhiguus in its lonely outpost on Schiehallion stands to his credit, 

 but I do not think he added much else to our British Moss Flora. 

 Nor did he ever speak of field-work as if he took much delight 

 in it. A north-countryman, I suppose the North drew him, for the 

 only expeditions beyond our borders that I have heard him speak of 

 ^except one to Ireland) were to Scotland and Norway, and some 

 of these seemed to have been somewhat ill-starred voyages. He was 

 on the ill-fated ' Chimborazo ' when, on a trip to the ISI^orth Cape, she 

 ran aground oft Torghatten I., and all the passengers had to be landed 

 in boats at 1 a.m. He speaks, however, in a letter of a wonderful 

 patch of fruiting Polilia alhicans of 20 square feet, between Tromso 

 and Hammerfest. He told me too of an expedition with Dr. Stirton 

 and Ewing to the Hebrides, when Stirton was to show him the 

 locality, on Benbecula, for some rare or unique Campylopus found 

 there thirteen years earlier. Arrived at the spot there was naught 

 but a potato patch to be seen, and the Oamirylopus appeared to have 

 joined the ranks of extinct species. On the return journey they had 

 unpleasant experiences, being nearly overtaken by the tide and nearly 

 or quite benighted by fog. Braithwaite must have looked back on 

 the Outer Hebrides with somewhat similar feelings to those of 

 Dr. Johnson. It could have been no great comfort to him when 

 Dr. Stirton Avrote later that he found he had taken them to the wrong 

 spot for the Cnmpylopusl 



One experience in the field he used to narrate with pleasure, 

 his introduction to James Whitehead. They had appointed to meet 

 in one of the Derbyshire Dales, in search of, I think, Tortula 

 hrevirostris. The Doctor was first on the spot, and was whiling away 

 the time searching in roadside crannies when he heard a rough voice 

 behind him, " 're you Braithut ? " This form of introduction amused 

 him greatly, and he would recount the episode with great gusto. 



If, however, he did not do much field-work himself, he led many 

 others to be field-workers by his kind and generous sympathy, and by 

 that delightful blending of geniality with enthusiasm which so often 

 creates the freemasonry of scientific pursuits. 



SHORT NOTE. 



LEriDlUM CAMPESTRE TAR. LONGISTYLUM (J. Bot. 1917, '324, 



819). .le viens de lire avec beaucoup d'interet la note ])recieusc de 

 Mr. A. Bruce Jackson siu' les vicissitudes de I'histoire du Lepidiuni 

 cawpeslre var. loiigiiifj/linn A. G. More. Tout est ])arfaitement 

 exact. C'est seulement la conclusion finale concernant Texistence, en 

 apparence, de formes intermediaires embarrassantes entre les L. cavi- 

 p^eslrc et lietcropliyllum qui est contestable. En efl'et je n'ai 

 jamais rencontre, au courant de mes longues recherclies monogra])hi(pies 

 sur le genre Lcpidium, de vraies formes intermediaires entre ces deux 

 especes. D'autre })art, il faut convenir que les caracteres indiuues 



