LINNEAJiT SOCIETY OF LONDOX. 37 



In 1860 he was associated with Mr. C. Markham in the 

 collection of seeds of Cinchona succiruhra for cultivation in the 

 British Colonies, a task which he successfully accomplished thougli 

 suflcring from rheumatic fever ; then his broken health enjoined 

 his removal to a more congenial climate, and he went to the 

 plain of Guayaquil in 1861 ; and in the following year, on the coast 

 at Chanduy, the advent of an exceptionally rainy season, after 

 a drought of 15 years, enabled him to make a small collection 

 of the peculiar flora which sprang up under these circumstances 

 in the desert. His savings were all lost by the fraud of a bank 

 clerk, but on his return home in 1864 he was awarded a small 

 pension by the Government. He settled at Coneysthorpe near 

 Castle Howard, in Yorkshire, and, crippled as he was by his 

 delicate health, he succeeded in working up a large amount of 

 his hepatic collections during the last twenty years of his life, 

 although he had to recline on his couch while at work. An 

 appreciative account of these later achievements will be found in 

 an article by Mr. Gepp in the ' Journal of Botany ' for February 

 last ; and a record of the geographical side of the explorer is iu 

 the ' Geographical Journal ' for March last. His very last paper 

 was read before this Society, and is now in the hands of the 

 printer : it was on the hepatics of St. Vincent and Dominica. 

 He died at Coneysthorpe on December 2Sth, 189i, and was buried 

 in that place on the last day of the year. 



Eichard Spruce's connection with this Society was of recent date, 

 but the fault was not on the part of the Society. Several years 

 before, the Council proposed to nominate him an Associate, but on 

 sounding him he returned a curt refusal, which, though pardon- 

 able in a chronic invalid, was couched in such terms as made it 

 impossible to persevere in the intention. Only last year he wrote 

 to a friend regretting his hasty answer of former years, and this 

 coming to the knowledge of the Council, steps were taken to 

 bring his name forward at the next vacancy, which was done, and 

 his name was duly added to the roll of our distinguished 

 botanists. 



JoH>^ jE2f>^EE Weir was born at Lewes, Sussex, on August 9th, 

 1822, and he was educated chiefly at Dr. Eodgers' school in 

 Camberwell. Destined for the Civil Service, he entered the 

 Custom House at the age of 17, and, advancing step by step in 

 the department, he was appointed in 1874 to the high post of 

 Accountant and Controller General, which he held until his 

 retirement in 1885. From boyhood be was an ardent student ot 

 natural history, and his first published writing on the subject 

 appeared in the ' Zoologist ' for 1845. Entomology may be said 

 to have been his first love, and several of the discoveries he made 

 among the Micro-lepidoptera have been named after him. In 

 his later years he devoted much attention to t'ne formation of an 

 extensive general collection of Butterflies, with special regard 

 to those groups in which mimicry and protective resemblance 

 may be observed to best advantage, a subject upon which he was 



