LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. Xci 



of the most beautiful plants of modern introduction, amongst others 

 the numerous richly coloured forms of Croton and Draccena, which 

 are now becoming known. Of the Crotons alone no fewer than 

 twenty-three distinct kinds were obtained ; and of Draccence, D. regina 

 magnijica, Mooreana, Chelsoni, Macleayl, and several others. To 

 these may be added such distinct and popular subjects as AcalypJia 

 WilJcesiana (tricolor) , Amaranthus melancholictis ruber, Coleus Veitchii 

 and Gibsoni, the choice and valuable Panclanus Veitchii, Aralia 

 Veitchii, and many others. During this journey Mr. Yeitch visited 

 Cape York, in Northern Australia, where he obtained a new palm, 

 to which, in honour of him, the name Veitchia Johannis has been 

 given. In the early part of 1867 Mr. Veitch was taken seriously 

 ill with an affection of the lungs, and for some time his life was de- 

 spaired of. He ralh'ed, however, under careful treatment, and, though 

 subsequently obHged to winter in a warmer climate, his friends 

 were not without hope that his life might be for some time spared 

 to them. This hope, however, was disappointed ; for on the 9th of 

 August 1870 he was attacked with haemorrhage from the lungs, 

 under which he gradually sank, and died on the evening of the 13th 

 of August, 1870, at his residence at Coombe "Wood. He was elected 

 u Fellow of this Society on the 6th of December 1866. 



James Yates, F.R.S., was born on the 30th of April, 1789,atToxteth 

 Park, near Liverpool. His father was a well-known and highly re- 

 spected minister of a Presbyterian congregation ; and his mother was 

 the daughter of Mr. John Ashton, the projector of the Sankey Canal, 

 the first canal which was made in the country. Mr. Yates was a 

 pupil of the Rev. William Sheppard, the minister of the Presbyte- 

 rian Chapel at Gateacre. "When he was sixteen years old he went 

 to the University of Glasgow ; and after passing three sessions there 

 and one at Edinburgh, he took his degree as M.A. in 1812. He 

 was afterwards a student in the University of Berlin. He followed 

 his father's profession as minister of a Presbyterian congregation, 

 first at Glasgow, afterwards at Birmingham, and lastly at the old 

 Presbyterian Chapel in Little Carter Lane, Doctors' Commons, 

 dui-ing which time he published his discourses on the chief points 

 of the Socinian controversy and his vindication of Unitarianism. 

 Having relinquished the ministry, he devoted himself almost exclu- 

 sively to scientific and literary pursuits, which were more congenial 

 to his disposition than religious controversy. 



Mr. Yates was elected a Member of the Geological Society in 

 1819, not long after its foundation, and he became a FeUow of the 

 Royal Society in 1839. He took an active part with Dr. Guest, the 



