LIXXEA.y SOCIETY OF LOXDOJf. 65 



St. Servan College in France. At the age of 17 he joined the 

 Spanish Legion during the Carlist war, and served also in the 

 2nd Eegiment of Lancers till 1839, during which period he had 

 also served as Aide-de-camp, and for those services was awarded 

 the Grand Cross of the Order of Cambodia. Eeturning to Great 

 Britain, in 1844 he was called to the Bar, and live years after 

 emigrated to Xelson, becoming District Court Judge. Quitting 

 that post, he represented various constituencies in the Parlia- 

 ment of Xew Zealand, from 1854 onwards. In 1869 he settled 

 in "Wellington, and was a chief promoter of the New Zealand 

 Institute in 1867, and served as its Treasurer ; he had also a 

 principal share in founding the Botanic Garden in that city. He 

 was a member of the Council of the "Wellington Philosophical 

 Society for thirty-two years, was five times President, and was 

 about to retire from that position when his death occurred. 



In biology he took a keen but general interest, and we find in 

 the list of his papers accounts of the birds, shells, and plants of 

 various parts of the Dominion, anthropology, and cosmic pheno- 

 mena. As a botanic collector, he transmitted plants to Eew from 

 1860 to 1880, and amongst them a series of plants well-known as 

 Veronica Traversii, Hook, f., which was introduced to cultivation 

 n Britain about 1873. The monotypic genus Traversia is now 

 merged in iSenecio and the species T. baccharoides is now S. gemi- 

 nahis, T. Kirk. About a dozen other plants were named after our 

 late Fellow, as the follo\\ing list will show : — Ranunculus Traversn 

 Hook. f. (now sunk in H. Lyallii, Hook, f.), Drimys Traversii 

 T. Kirk (formerly Hymenanthera Traversii, J. Buch.), AciijJiyUa 

 Traversii, Hook, f., Olearia Traversii, Hook. f. (formerly Euryhia 

 Traversii, F. Muell.), Ctlmisia Traversii, Hook, f., Gnaplialium 

 Traversii, Hook, f., Senecio Traversii, F. Muell. (now sunk in 

 S. hiUiclioides, Hook, f .), DracopliyUura Traversii, Hook, f., Myosotis 

 Traversii, Hook, f., Veronica Traversii, Hook, f., mentioned above 

 PimeJea Traversii, Hook, f., and Care:c Traversii, T. Kirk, now 

 considered conspecific with C. DaUii, T. Kirk. [B. D. J.] 



James Hebbeet "\^eitch came of the a\ ell-known family of that 

 name, was born at Chelsea in 1868, and educated at Crawford 

 College, Maidenhead, continued technically in France and Germany. 

 He entered upon business in 1885, then, when 23 years of a»e, 

 he undertook a voyage to India, Malaya, Japan, Corea, Australia, 

 and Xew Zealand, to study the floras of those regions and the 

 conditions of growth, with a view to enrich the number of culti- 

 vated plants by additional species. During this round he sent 

 letters to his uncle, Mr. Harry James "V^eitch, which were printed 

 in the ' Gardeners' Chronicle ' from early in 1892 to the end of 

 1893, describing the various gardens and nurseries he had visited. 

 He amplified and supplemented these letters after his return home 

 in 1893, and the resulting quarto volume appeared in 1896 as 

 'A Traveller's Notes.' In 1898 his firm became a private limited 

 liability company, and the subject of our notice, two years later, 

 LI>-y. SOC. PEOCEEDiyCS. — SESSIOX 1907-1908. / 



