3° 



PROCEEDINGS or THE 



the mauuscript, devoting three or four days a week to work in the 

 Herbarium at the Royal Gardens, Kew, where tha fuller material 

 and splendid library were utilized by him. His usual method 

 was to work from ten in the forenoon to about three in the 

 afternoon, and then, putting aside his plants and papers, he salhed 

 forth for an hoar's walk in the Gardens before taking train for 

 home. 



lu common with most militar}^ men, Collett held sanguine A^ews 

 of the early supremacy of the British arms, when the Boer war 

 broke out in 1899. He keenly felt the reverses whicli the late 

 autumn of that year witnessed, aud the black week of December, 

 which included the repulse at Colenso, told heavily upon his health 

 and spirits : he lost his rest, and with it his elasticity of mind. 

 In spite of this, he had not only completed the manuscript to the 

 end, but had begun a reworking of the early orders, so as to 

 profit by his later experience. The illustrations had been drawn, 

 and many of the blocks prepared, and the first part of the manu- 

 script had been put into the printer's hands, when he went to 

 Ii'eland for a short holiday. It is supposed that he must have 

 overfatigued himself ; at any rate, soon after his return home he 

 had a paralytic stroke, from which he slowly recovered. The 

 traces of his severe illness were upon him when he was last in 

 these rooms ; he suffered repeatedly from weakness of the heart's 

 action, and eventually passed away from a fatal failure, at his 

 residence at Cranley Gardens. He was elected into our Society 

 December 4, 1879. 



The modesty, which was a marked feature of our deceased 

 Fellow's character, prevented him from being widely known in the 

 Society ; but many must remember how, when a botanical paper 

 V as to be read, he would take a seat as near to the essayist as 

 possible, that he might lose as few remarks as possible. His 

 bright and kindly disposition and charm of manner were felt by 

 all who came in contact with him, and they will ever chei-ish a 

 warm recollection of the old soldier-botanist. 



The work to which he devoted the closing years of his life is 

 now passing through the press, under the care of Sir W. T. 

 Thiselton-Dyer aud Mr. W. Botting Hemsley ; each has therein put 

 on record his impression of the author's personality, and from the 

 unpublished introduction to the ' Flora Simlensis' the writer has 

 been permitted to add much to the foregoing appreciation. 



Collett was also acquainted with the plants of South Europe, 

 Algeria, the Canaries, Java, Japan, the Sandwich Islands, the 

 United States, and Canada, all of which he had visited for botanic 

 purposes. 



Thomas Combeb was born at Pernambuco, Brazil, on the 

 1 4th November, 1837, the eldest son of Edward Comber, of 

 Myddleton Hall, Warrington, Lancashire. He was educated 

 chiefly at Whitchurch, in Shropshire, entered into commercial life 

 at an early age, spent several years in India, and came home 



