LIXXEAN SOCIETY OF LOXDOI^. 29 



appeared the first edition of his ' Manuel de la Flore Belgique.' 

 This is a small octavo volume of 23G pages, and contains, over and 

 above descriptions of genera and species, directions for forming a 

 herbarium, a bibliography of Belgian botany, an account of the 

 geographical regions and their characteristic plants, a discussion 

 on the nature of species, and a glossary of terms. It is an 

 eminently useful and practical book, and did much to revive a love 

 for botany in Belgium, which for many years had been almost 

 entirely neglected. The ' Manuel' passed through several editions 

 (the 5t!i in 1884), and the flora of Belgium being similar to that of 

 England, has been found very useful in this countrx'. In the 

 second edition the descriptive part is considerably enlarged, and 

 a good deal of the subsidiary matter omitted. The number of indi- 

 genous Belgian flowering plants and A'ascular cryptogams is, in this 

 second edition, estimated at 1240. Cropin aluays took a moderate 

 view of species, neither uniting nor dividing excessively. In 1861 

 he was appointed a professor at the State School of Horticulture 

 at Ghent, a position which he held up to 1870. In 1862 the 

 reviving love for botany led to the formation of the ' Socit'te 

 I'oyale botanique de Belgique,' under the presidency of the veteran 

 Dumortier. Crepin was at the beginning a member of the council, 

 and after his removal to Brussels filled for nearly thirty years the 

 office of secretary. The publications of this society now amount 

 to forty volumes ; to these Crepin was one of the most prolific 

 contributors, his papers ranging over a wide field, including, in 

 addition to original papers, which very often deal with Roses, reviews 

 and reports of excui'sions. The more important of his papers 

 on Hoses were reprinted in a separate form under the title of 

 'Primitiae Monographise Eosarum.' Of these the second part, 

 which contains careful original descriptions of the Asiatic E-oses, 

 is the most valuable. 



In 1871 Crepin was appointed Curator of the Herbarium of 

 the Botanic Garden at Brussels, and from that date to his death 

 he lived in the metropolis. During his summer holidays he 

 usually visited Switzerland, devoting his attention principally to 

 the rich Kose-flora of the lower part of the Rhone vallej^ He 

 was elected a Correspondent of the Brussels Academy in 1872, a 

 Member in 1878, and a director of the scientific division in 1888. 

 About 1873-75 he paid much attention to palaeontology, and 

 contributed several papers on the subject to the Memoirs of the 

 Academy. Many of the fossil plants in the Brussels Museum 

 bear labels in his neat legible handwriting. In 187G he became 

 Director of the Brussels Garden, and under his management both 

 the living and dried collections were greatly increased. He paid 

 two visits to England during his term of office, and annotated 

 copiously the Roses at Kew and the British Museum. In 1879 

 Dumortier died, and Crepin wrote his elnge for the Memoirs of 

 the Academy, as he did afterwards that of Decaisne in 1881, and 

 Edouard Morren in 1887. He set his heart upon publishing a 

 general monograph of Roses, and for this he accumulated a very 



