LINlfEAX SOCIETY OF LONDON. 43 



Poremost in his correspoudence stood Kew, the connection with 

 which extended from 1867 to his death, and was much strengthened 

 by repeated visits, on which he used to bring with him large 

 sets ot" specimens for study and comparison. 



With Bolus started a second and most successful period in the 

 botanical exploration of South Africa, the lirst having closed with 

 Ecklon and Zeyher in the forties. The success \\as partly due to 

 his own numerous travels, of wliieh Prof. H. H. W. Pearson 

 published a valuable list in the South African Journal of Science 

 for 1911, and partly to the stimulus Avhich he so well understood to 

 awake and keep alive in otliers. His botanical journeys took him 

 ■all over Cape Colony, from Cape Town to Xama([ualand and Pondo- 

 land, and from Algoa Bay to Kimberley. He also visited the 

 Orange Pree State, and three times the Transvaal. Thus he ac- 

 quired an unparalleled field knowledge of the flora of South Africa, 

 and especially of Cape Colony. It found a masterly expression in 

 his ' Sketch of the Piora of South Africa ' (1886), and again in a 

 more matured and condensed form in his ' Sketch of the Ploral 

 Eegions of South Africa' (1905); but on the whole he was not a 

 prolific writer. He was too modest to gauge exactly the value of 

 his experience and first-hand knowledge, and perliaps also too 

 cautious in a field where the inadequate literary and herbarium 

 resources at his disposal certainly provided ample opportunity for 

 blocking and pitfalls. However, he published a number of 

 " Contributions to South African Botany " in various places, and 

 with respect to tv^o families he rose far above the level of the 

 casual contributor. The iunnensely rich and varied Orchid flora 

 •of the Cape fascinated him early. In 1882 he gave us a " List of 

 Published Species of Cape Orchids " in the Journal of the Linuean 

 Society, followed in the same place by five "Contributions" 

 (1884-1^90) dealing with the family, whilst a paper on the 

 Orchids of the Cape Peninsula, illustrated by himself, appeared 

 in the Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society 

 in 1882. The plan of illustrating as many South African members 

 of the family as possible was carried further in his ' Icones 

 ■Orchidearum Austro-Africanarum Extratro])icarum,' of Mliicli the 

 first part (50 plates) came out in 1 892, the second (50 plates) in 

 1896, both constituting A^olume I., and a third. Volume II., in 1911, 

 the revision of the last proof-sheets of this having been concluded 

 by him on the very eve of his death. The other family which 

 deservedly claimed his special attention was the Ericacea?, which 

 in the genus Erica attains to such a marvellous number of species. 

 Bolus, together with his friend Prof. Guthrie, undertook to elabo- 

 rate the genus for the ' Flora Capensis,' and, after Guthrie's death 

 in 1899, he finished the difficult and troublesome task, the work 

 occupying over 300 pages with descriptions of 469 species in the 

 fourth volume of the ' Flora Capensis ' (1905). Yet another 

 publication has to be mentioned, namely, 'A List of Flowering 

 Plants and Ferns of the Cape Peninsula,' which he elaborated in 

 •conjunction with Capt. (now Major) A. IT. Wolley Dod. It is' 



