LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. OV 



at Woburn Abbey, which has given rise to a splendid work, the 

 * Salicetum Woburnense,' in which we have a standard set of figures 

 of all our native, amongst many exotic, species, which give to the 

 British naturalist an advantage over all that Continental authors 

 have published on the subject ; and to them I refer in every in- 

 stance, and with great satisfaction. The arrangement of the species 

 in the ' Salicetum ' is due to the botanical skill and knowledge of 

 Mr. Forbes, head gardener at "Woburn; and that department does 

 him great credit." 



James Townsend Ma^Jcay, LL.D., M.R.I.A., was elected an Asso- 

 ciate so long ago as December 2, 1806. He died February 25th 

 1862, aged 86. 



He was born at Kircaldy, Fifeshire, where he received the ordi- 

 nary education afforded at parochial schools. He was bred to the 

 occupation of a gardener, and held a situation in Scotland in that 

 capacity before he went to Ireland in 1803. At that time the 

 authorities of Trinity College, Dublin, had determined upon the for- 

 mation of a botanical garden to aid the lectures of the Professor 

 of Botany, a chair then held by Dr. Scott. To this gentleman 

 Dr. Mackay was recommended as a suitable person to lay out the 

 gardens, which he did soon afterwards, on his being appointed cu- 

 rator, a situation which he held from 1806 to 1862. 



In the years 1804 and 1805, Dr. Mackay made tours through the 

 western parts, more especially, of Ireland, for the purpose of observ- 

 ing the indigenous plants, which at that period were but imperfectly 

 known. The results of these joumejrings were published in a cata- 

 logue of the rarer plants of Ireland, in 1806, in the fifth volume of 

 the ' Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society.' And on a subse- 

 quent occasion, when better acquainted with the indigenous flora, 

 he gave for publication, to the Royal Irish Academy (of which 

 learned body he was then a member), a catalogue of all the phsenoga- 

 mous plants and ferns known to him as native. These contributions, 

 however, were but preparatory to his principal work, namely the 

 ' Flora Hibemica,' published in 1836. In this work he edited only 

 the phsenogamous plants, Dr. Taylor and Dr. Harvey undertaking 

 the Cryptogamia. 



These, with one or two short papers communicated to the British 

 Association, are, I believe, his only contributions to botanical science. 



In 1850 the Board and Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, con- 

 ferred on him the title of LL.D. 



