LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 93 



1842, when he left London for Pontrilas House, Herefordsliire. 

 Here he continued to work unremittingly upon Botany, adding 

 to his herbarium and library, as every naturalist must do if far 

 removed from great centres of scientific industry; until 1854, 

 when he found that his expenses were increasing beyond his means. 

 He therefore determined to present his collections of plants and 

 his botanical books to the Royal Grardens at Kew, and to return 

 himself to London. Shortly after this he took up his quarters 

 first in Victoria Street, and then at 25 Wilton Place, where he 

 resided until his death. 



U)itil the autumn of last year, Bentham pursued the same 

 quiet method : leaving home a few minutes after nine, he drove 

 to Yauxhall, proceeding thence by rail to Kew, where he worked 

 from ten to nearly four in the afternoon, returning by the 

 way he came. On his arrival at home he devoted an hour or 

 more to writing out fairly his notes of work done during the day, 

 and then dined. His meals were breakfast and dinner, separated, 

 as we have seen, by a long interval, and he never broke his fast at 

 other times, nor was he other than a spare eater. 



This regular course of life was varied by a two mouths' holiday 

 in the autumn of each year, spent in the country or abroad, and 

 by devoting each Thursday to the affairs of the Linnean Society 

 whilst its President, from 1861 to 1874. 



On settling down to the methodical work at Kew which we have 

 described above, he took in hand the ' Flora Hongkongeusis,' the 

 inauguration of the Colonial ' Floras ' which have from time to 

 time been issued under the auspices of the authorities at Kew. 

 That finished, he undei"took and completed the description of the 

 plants of the most extensive local exotic flora ever completed, that 

 of Australia, in which lie derived great assistance from the plants 

 and accompanying notes supplied by the Grovernment Botanist 

 of Victoria, Baron Perd. von Mueller. The main work of his 

 life, however, was done in conjunction with Dr. (now Sir Joseph) 

 Hooker, being a revision, after examination, of the known genera 

 of Phanerogams. Begun about 1858, the first part was issued in 

 1862, and the work was brought to a conclusion in 1883. Imme- 

 diately after this his health visibly declined, and, after eighteen 

 months of decreasing strength, he died at his house in Wilton 

 Place on 20th September last. 



Li 1861 he was elected President of the Linnean Society in 

 succession to Prof. Bell ; and for thirteen years he devoted much 

 time, not only to the duties of the Presidentship, which he per- 

 formed with unremitting punctuality, but to the routine work of 

 the Society, taking on his own shoulders much of the labour pro- 

 perly belonging to the other oflicers. His purse was constantly 

 open for the purposes of the Society," and his series of Anniver- 

 sary Addresses, which are unparalleled in the annals of the Society, 

 were looked forward to by the body of Pellows as a most important 

 factor in the day's proceedings. His last published paper came 



