LINXEAX SOCIETY OF LONDON*. 43 



he still utilized the herhariiiin and garden, and though gradually 

 his phjsical strength tailed, he retained possession ot his mental 

 powers to the end. He died at Kevv on 16th August, VJ2(i, iu 

 his 89th year, and was huried on the follo\\ijig Thursday, 19th 

 August, iu the Friends' Burial Ground, Loudoji lload, Isleworth. 



Baker's work after his arrival at Kew was prodigious, largely 

 due to tlie fact that he concentrated his attention upon famdies 

 which did not need the help ot" the microscope to describe them. 

 Mr. George Bentham more tlian once said to the present writer 

 that "Baker never soaks a Houer." Tet Baker's astounding 

 output was accomplished in a quiet manner, entirely devoid ot 

 fuss or the visible hurry plainly shown b}" his chief (Proc. Linn. 

 Soc. 1916-17, p. 56). No doubt tlie secret lay in the large 

 amount of time spent in work at home after official hours ; be 

 really lived for systematic botany. 



The ' Synopsis Filicum ' has already been mentioned ; it came 

 out in 18*J8, reaclung a second edition in 1874, and he was at 

 once looked upon as a leading author upon vascular cryptogams, 

 leading to his being engaged on the ferns for the great Brazilian 

 Flora (187u). But even before the 'Synopsis' appeared. Baker 

 had printed a list of cultivated Selaginellas in the ' Gardeners' 

 Chronicle ' for 1867, a medium wiiicii brought out no inconsider- 

 able part of his pioneer work for cultivated plants. A I'evision 

 of JS^arcissus came out in the ' Journal of Botany ' in 1870, which 

 was reshaped in 1875 as part of Buj'bidge's ' A'arcissus ' volume. 

 Baker was also busy for Oliver's ' Flora of Tropical Africa,' 

 elaborating for the first volume in 1868 the Ampelidese, Sapin- 

 daceae, and Conuaracese, and in the second (1871) the whole of 

 the Papilionac(?ae, 257 pages, nearly one-half of that volume, and 

 in the third (1877) the small families of Myrsineae and JSapotaceae. 

 In the same year as the 'Synopsis ' appeared Baker was responsible 

 for the official catalogue of the ferns cultivated at Kew. Mr. Wilson 

 Saunders, of Reigate, was printing his ' liefugium botanicum,' 

 plates and descriptions of interesting but not showy plants, and 

 Baker contributed to the five volumes from 1869 to 1873 ; and 

 from 1870 to 1875 he helped in editing the 'Journal of Botany,' 

 in which so many of his shorter essays appeared. He gave an 

 account of Yuccas in the ' Gardeners' (I'hrojiicle ' for 1870, and in 

 the same autumn he had his "Geographical Distribution of Ferns"' 

 printed in the Transactions of our Society, and in our Journal 

 for the next year he produced his "Monograph ot British lioses." 



Baker's publications from this period onwards became so frequent 

 and many that tlie writer must sunniiarize them after alluding 

 to the volumes he wrote. ' Elementary Lessons in Botanical 

 Geograjjliy' (1875); the ' Flora of Mauritius and tlie Seychelles' 

 (1877); Composita) (187:3-1884), Connaraceiio, and Ampelidea? 

 (both in 1871) for Martius's ' Flora Brasiliensis ' ; 'A Flora of 

 the English Lake District ' (1885) ; ' Handbook of the Fern 

 Allies' (1887); 'Handbook of the Bromeliacea3 ' (1889); 'A 

 summary of the new J^erns . . . since 1874' (Oxford, 1892); 



