74 



I'nOCEEDTXGS OF THE 



iiiclinalion for botany, however, brought liiin int-o contact with 

 Uie tlien Curator of tlie Botanic Garden at Durban, Mr. INI. 

 J. i\lcKen, who afterwards married his sister. This association 

 decided his further career. In 1882 he was appointed to the post 

 which his brother-in-law had occupied. Subsequently he was 

 made Director of the Gardens, but when eventually the Garden 

 and the Herbarium were separated he retained the Directorship 

 of the Herbarium, and that he held until he died. Long before 

 his ofhcial connection with the Durban Garden he was active in 

 collecting plants, of which he sent numerous specimens, dried and 

 living, to Kew, a practice which he maintained up to the end of 

 his life. His intimate knowledge of the flora of Natal is well 

 reflected in his pui)lications, among which his 'Natal Plants,' a 

 work in six volumes with (500 plates, representing as many species, 

 occupies the first place. Others are ' A Guide to the Trees and 

 Shrubs of the Natal Garden,' a ' Handbook to the Flora of Natal,' 

 and a ' lievised List of the Flora of Natal.' His undoubtedly 

 great merits with regard to the botanical exploration of Natal 

 found their recognition in his election as an Associate of the 

 Society on May 5th, 1887, and the presentation of the degree of 

 Doctor of Science to him by the University of the Cape of Good 

 Hope. [O. S.] 



Cil.VELES Rekj; Zeiller, Inspector General of Mines, Vice- 

 President of the Council of Mines, and a Member of the Instirut 

 de France, was born at Nancy on January 14th, 1847 *. We are 

 here interested in his work as a palaeobotanist ; he was scarcely 

 less distinguished as a mining engineer, 



Zeiller entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1867 aT\d passed out 

 in the First Class. He thereu])on joined the Service of Mines, 

 and was appointed Engineer in 1870. Thus his career 0])ened 

 at the time of the last great war; it terminated, by his death on 

 November 27th, 1915, in the midst of the still greater contlict 

 now raging. It is remarkable that he died within three davs of 

 his distinguished German fellow-worker Count Solms-Laubach, 

 with whom he was on terms of friendship. 



Zeiller took an active part in the war of 1870, serving as 

 Lieutenant in a mining company attached to the Engineers ; 

 he \\ as engaged in the defence of Paris, and it was his s])ecial 

 work to establish underground communications between the city 

 and the southern forts. 



On the return of peace, he joined for a time the Secretariate of 

 the Council General of Mines. Zeiller's scientific work, throughout 

 life, was carried on in the midst of the most exacting profess-ional 

 duties. He became Secretary of the Annales des Mines in 1878, 

 and of the Conseil General ten years later, holding both these 

 offices till 1910. In the following year he attained the high office 



* The writer is indcbtecl, for much information i-pparrlinp Zeillers cr.veor, 

 to two obittiary notires, by bis colleagues. H. ]~loiivjlli- and C. Waickoiiiier, in 

 tbe Bull, ^letis! de I'Assoc. Amicale des Elives de I'Kcole Kat. Sup. des ilines, 

 Janvier I'JIG- 



