1 J li Ohifuary. 



Being a constant member or delegate of various Associations 

 and Congresses, Blasius became well acquainted with many 

 scientific men at home and abroad, and was everywhere 

 much esteemed for his joviality and good humour, and as an 

 amiable companion and true friend. Married in 1869 to a 

 congenial, high-born lady (Mally Hausmann), who repeatedly 

 accompanied him in his travels, Blasius enjoyed a most happy 

 and untroubled family life, blessed by four children and a 

 number of grandchildren. Of an excellent constitution, Blasius 

 was by no means of sedentary habits, but liked exercise and 

 sporting, often going deer-stalking and elk-shooting in the 

 woods of Esthonia. All those who met Blasius during 

 the late International Ornithological Congress in London 

 (1905) will remember him as of a type of health which 

 promised undoubted longevity. Scarcely ever previously ill, 

 in the beginning of May last Blasius was struck down bv a 

 heavy attack of broncho-pneumonia complicated by pleuritis, 

 but happily recovered. He had intended to join his brother 

 at the end of July in visiting the International Zoological 

 Congress at Boston (U.S.A.), but a relapse interfered with 

 ^ / this plan and ended his life on the ^Ist of September. 

 I Two days before his brother returned from America the 



funeral of Rudolph Blasius had taken place, and an attendance 

 of all classes proved how much and how deeply the loss of 

 this prominent and deserving citizen was felt. Our science 

 also will not fail to miss him. — O. F. 



3. Professor W. Nation, C.M.Z.S. — William Nation was 

 born, of humble parents, in 18.26, at Staplegrove, near 

 Taunton in Somersetshire, and brought up as a gardener. 

 In 1840, having passed the necessary examination, he was 

 appointed one of the garden-staff at the Royal Gardens at 

 Kew. Here he remained till 1849, when his good conduct 

 and general knowledge of plants, together with a desire to 

 visit foreign countries, caused him to be sent out to Lima 

 as a plant-collector. After several years of exploration of 

 the rich forests on the eastern side of the Andes, during 

 which he sent many botanical specimens to Europe, Nation 



