LINNEAX SOCIETY OF LONDON. 69 



M-ith Lvdekker, on ' Mammals Living and Extinct,' all take 

 foremost rank ; and of his essays, those dealing with questions 

 of Museum management are, as a collected series, unique and 

 instructive. With his day fully occupied with official duties 

 and liable to endless interruption by visitors, to whom he was 

 always most courteous. Flower had little opportunity for con- 

 tinuous zoological work ; and that which the visitor to the 

 Museum now beholds as directly due to his hand, was mostly 

 done after hours, when the doors were closed to the public. 

 He was always at it as opportunity offered. As a speaker and 

 lecturer, he was fluent and attractive; as a friend, candid but 

 sympathetic, faithful and confiding, ever tolerant of the weakness 

 of others. He leaves us a noble example of untiring devotion to 

 the cause of science. To the success of his lengthy tenure of office 

 as President of the Zoological Society, and the reforms which, 

 in coDJ unction with Dr. P. L. Sclater, he there carried out, the 

 progress and growth in all departments of that Society's work is in 

 itself a sufficient testimony. In his other Presidential capacities 

 he was equally facile and influential ; and in public life he could 

 always be relied upon, were the circumstance ever so difficult, to 

 do and say the right thing. 



He received Hon. Degrees from the Universities of Oxford, 

 •Cambridge, Edinburgh, St. Andrew's, Dublin, and Durham, and 

 also the Royal Prussian Order " Pour la Merite." He was a 

 Member of several Foreign Institutes, Academies, and Societies, 

 a recipient of the Eoyal Society's Medal, and a K.C.B. 



He was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society on 20th March, 

 1862 ; and although he never contributed to its publications, his 

 eulogium on Charles Darwin, delivered at the memorable meeting 

 in 1887, will be recalled by those who heard it as, in its cautious- 

 ness, a highly characteristic achievement. 



Sir W. Flower suffered from failing health during the two 

 •closing years of his life. Overwork, telling upon a frail constitu- 

 tion, brought about an affection of the heart, from which, pleurisy 

 supervening, he died on 1st July, 1900, in his 6Sth year, deeply 

 beloved and respected by all. 



Adkien Eexe Franchet was elected a Foreign Member on 

 4lh May, 1899, and died suddenly on 15th February-, 1900, his 

 ■connection ^^•ith the Society thus lasting less than ten months. 



He was born at Pezou, Loir-et-Cher, on 21st April, 183-4 ; in 

 1857 he became curator of the collections of the Marquis de 

 Vibraye, at Cour-Cheverny, a small to\\Ti to the south-east of Blois, 

 and retained this position for twenty-three years. During his stay 

 in this place, he had amongst his duties the charge of certain 

 excavations, amongst them those of Grand Pressigny and Eyzies, 

 though he never was greatly drawn to the study of palaeontology. 



His first paper was published in 1864 in ' Billotia,' a"jN'ote 

 sur le mode de reproduction de la Bnmiera vivipara {Lemna 

 arrliiza, L.)," which generic name, like those of Grantia, Griff., and 



