38 PROCKKDINO.s oi' THK 



he was chosen Pre>idt'nt of the B:itli Mic-roscopical Society ; he 

 was also a Fellow ot the Eiiioniolu^iriil Society, lie helped to 

 (h'aw up :i list of the insects of Somersetshire for the A'ictoria 

 History of that county, iiatterly he had interested himself in 

 bamhou culture, and made a list of 42 Jiamhtl^ece in his garden. 

 He left a wi(lo\\ and one son and one daughter. By his special 

 request he was cremateil. [13. D. J.J 



William Gilsox Faulow died at his home in (^uincey Street, 

 Cainbiitlge, Massacluisetts, on 3rd June, liJlD, after an illness of 

 tliree weeks. He was a frequent visitor to our country before 

 the war, and his striking personality, his iriejjressihle humour 

 and wide humanity, as well as his scientific distinction, secured 

 him a joyfid welcome. A keen sense of personal loss is felt by 

 liis many friends here. 



Fiirlow was Lorn in 1844, and graduated from Harvard College 

 in ISTO with the degrees of A.jM. and M.D., the medical course 

 having been taken as a pre|>aratio)i for a scientific career. Botany 

 and music were the pursuits that attracted hiui most during his 

 student days. He had, indeed, already showed a strong predilec- 

 tion for cryptogamic botany, and after graduation he acted as 

 assistant to Asa Gray. His first i)ublications were ' Cuban Sea- 

 weeds ' (187 J) and ' List of the Sea-weeds and Marine Algw of the 

 isouth Coast of New England ' (1871-1872). He relinquished his 

 post in 1872, at Gray's advice, in order to continue his botanical 

 studies in Europe. He first diivcted his course to Scandinavia, 

 where he visited the elder J-'ries, Areschoug, and J. G. Agardh, and 

 had the opportunity of examining their herbaria. His next journey 

 took him to St. Petersburg to see the lluprecht Herbarium of 

 Algae. iMost of his time, however, during these " wander years '' 

 was spent in a detinite course of botany under the direction 

 of de Bary at Strassbin-g. The students in de Barv's laboratory 

 were given a decided bias towards cryi)togainic botany, more 

 ■especially fungi, and harlow shared in the enthusiasm for this 

 side of botanical research, though his first published investigation 

 was on apogam}' in Ferns : ' An asexual growth from the pro- 

 thallus of Pteris cretlca'' (1874). Before lenving Europe, he 

 devoted some weeks to an intensive study of lichens at (Geneva 

 with .Tean Mueller. Finally, a French tour took him to Antibes 

 and the French algologists, Bornet and Thuret. 



On returning to America in 1874, Farlow was appointed to an 

 assistant professorship at Harvard. His work during the follow- 

 ing years de.dt largely with plant ])athology, and he publislied a 

 series of papers on \arions destructive parasites. In 187'J he 

 became Professor of Cry|)togamic Botany, a position he occupied 

 until his death, though lie retired from active teaching in 1896 

 and devoted himself to the care and development of the herbarium 

 and library. His publications during these years of activity were 

 many and various; they ilealr not only with scientific discovery, 

 but with (juestions such as the ' Conception of Species ' and the 



