34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



But your contributions to the text of this splendid undertaking;; 

 form only a portion of your share in its prosecution. If, during 

 the early half of the period, since 1879, over which its preparation 

 has extended, the task of editing its contents and of taking steps 

 to accumulate the requisite material were performed conjointly 

 with Mr. Salvin, the whole burden of the gigantic task has, since 

 1898, been borne by you alone. 



Great as this labt)ur has been it does not exhaust the tale of 

 the indebtedness of science to you. It still left you with time to 

 pay visits, as a naturalist, to India and to Mexico. Your sagacity 

 as occupant of the chair of an important Committee on Evolution, 

 whose labours extended over a number of years, was gratefully 

 appreciated and is warmly remembered. 



As the Treasurer of the Ray Society and as a Trustee of the 

 British Museum you have been able to do still more to promote 

 the cultivation of the Science of Natural History. 



Will you now, therefore, accept from me on behalf of my 

 colleagues the Linnean Medal of the Society as a token of our 

 deep appreciation of your labours and as a mark of our esteem 

 and regard? 



The recipient made a suitable acknowledgment in reply. 



The General Secretary having laid upon the table the Obituary 

 Notices of deceased Fellows which had been received from various 

 authors, the proceedings terminated. 



OBITUARY NOTICES. 



The late Dr. HERMAisTf Franz Beokee was a Fellow for more 

 than half-a-century, having been elected on the 21st June, 1866. 



He was born in 1838 and educated for the medical profession, 

 and took his M.D. degree at Jena, but symptoms of lung trouble 

 caused him to leave his native country for Torquay, and sub- 

 sequently in 1870 for Capetown, where he was appointed surgeon 

 to the Bathurst and Alexandria districts. He ascribed his relief 

 from the threatened pulmonary danger by his constant riding 

 over this large district and the copious draughts of calabash milk 

 at Kaffir kraals. In 1874 he removed to Grahamstown, where he 

 resided during the rest of his life. Loyal to his country he took 

 up out-patient work in 1914 after a few months of retirement, so 

 as to release a colleague for field service, and continued tliis until 

 1st April, 1917; he took to his bed the next day, and soon after 

 midnight of the 3rd April he expired. 



Our late Fellow was twice married, and left a widow, but no 

 family. A general practitioner for 55 years he enjoyed a great 

 reputation locally, his spare time being given to entomology, 

 shells, and algae. His brother, Charles Otto Gustavus Becker, 



