94 



pnOCEEDINGS OF TTIK 



out in the Society's ' Journal,' detailing the respective amount of 

 work contributed by Sir ,T. D. Hooker and himself to tlie ' Genera 

 Plantariim;' and upon liis death he was found to have bcqueatlied 

 to it the sum of one thousand pounds, free of legacy duty, 

 besides other scientific bequests. 



A prominent feature of Mr. Bentham's character was a consti- 

 tutional reserve, or rather shyness, often harassing to himself, 

 which prevented many from appreciating his fine disposition 

 and generous qualities. He was the most helpful of living 

 botanists, sparing neither time nor trouble in aiding his brother 

 workers with head and hand, pen and microscope. After "Wal- 

 lich's return to India he undertook the cataloguing and distribu- 

 tion of the last portion (numbers 7684 to 9148) of that celebrated 

 botanist's gigantic herbarium, lithographing the tickets with his 

 own hand. So, too, he catalogued, arranged, and distributed 

 most of the plants collected by Eobert and Eichard Schomburgk 

 in Guiana ; also Hartvveg's collections from Colombia, Mexico, 

 and California ; and, besides many lesser ones, those of his friend 

 Eichard Spruce, made at intervals during the whole period (about 

 seven years) of that illustrious traveller's residence in Brazil and 

 Peru, and amounting to not less than 50,000 specimens. These 

 were all gratuitous services, undertaken solely in the interest of 

 botanical science ; and it is impossible to over-estimate their im- 

 portance as contributions to our knowledge of the flora of the 

 richest tropical regions of the globe. Nor did his kind offices end 

 with these acts, for in more tliau one instance he undertook the 

 collection of money due from subscribers, with the view of saving 

 his collecting friends the expense and trouble of agency and 

 commission. 



A still greater task was the formation of the great general Her- 

 barium now at Cambi'idge, which consists for the most part of that 

 which his friend C. Leman bequeathed to Bentham. With this 

 and duplicates from his own herbarium he classified, named, and 

 had fastened down and enclosed in genus-covers no fewer than 

 30,000 species, forming a consulting herbarium superior to any 

 in Britain except the national ones. This gigantic task took him 

 ten years to complete. For this service he received the degree of 

 LL.D. from the ITuiversity of Cambridge. 



The rebuilding of Burlington House, and the removal of the 

 Linneau Society from its old quarters, now occupied by the Eoyal 

 Academy, took place during Bentham's presidency. The plans 

 for our apartments were modified from time to time, as the 

 building progressed, at his suggestion ; and when the removal 

 took place he made all the arrangements for the transport of the 

 books, specimens, and other property. The present scheme of 

 classifying the books on the shelves \\as elaborated by him, 

 and the volumes were put in their places with his own hands. 

 The same office was fultilled by him when the old herbarium 

 buildiug at Kew was adapted to modern needs ; the library there 



