160 OBITUARY. 



copy of Grisley's ' Viriclarium Lusitaniciim,' 16G1, presented by 

 LimicTus to his pupil Loeiling, the author of the ' Iter Hispanicum.' 

 — A paper was read by Mr. Lister, ' On the Myxomycetes, or 

 Mycetozoa, a group of organisms on the borderland between the 

 Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, and formerly classed with Fungi.' 

 His remarks were illustrated by numerous coloured drawings of 

 representative species, and the author exhibited under the micro- 

 scope the swarm-cells from the spores of AiuaurocJuEte and the 

 streaming plasmodium of Badhamia. Attention was specially 

 directed to the mode of feeding of the swarm-cells, and observations 

 made on those of Stcmonitis, where large bacilli were seen to be 

 caught by pseudopodia projected from the posterior end of the 

 organism, and draw^i into its substance and digested. An inte- 

 resting discussion followed, in which the President, Prof. Marshall 

 Ward, Prof. Howes, and Mr. Breese took part. 



OBITVARY. 

 Mary Philadelphia Merrifield, who died at Stapleford, Cam- 

 bridge on January 4th, and was buried in Stapleford Churchyard, 

 was a very accomplished phycologist, whose name will rank beside 

 those of Mrs. Griffiths, Miss Cutler, Miss Giff'ord, and Mrs. Gray, 

 as an industrious explorer of our marine Algge. She was born in 

 Brompton Pioad, London, on April 15th, 1804, and was the daughter 

 of Mr. Charles Watkins, an eminent conveyancing barrister. Her 

 husband, John Merrifield, whom she married on January 1st, 1827 

 (and who died in 1877), was also a barrister. She was the author 

 of a ' List of Marine Algse found at Brighton and its vicinity, with 

 observations on a few of the most remarkable plants,' which 

 appeared in the * Phytologist ' (vi. 1862-63, pp. 513-523). Her 

 other writings are notices contributed to the pages of this Journal, 

 with others in * Nature ' and elsewhere, usually signed by her 

 initials. As a correspondent Mrs. Merrifield rendered valuable 

 services to a number of phycologists, notably to the late Prof. 

 Dickie and to Prof. Agardh. Prof. Agardh has recognised her 

 abilities as a phycologist by establishing in her honour the genus 

 MerriJieUlia (Till. Alg. Syst. vii. Florideae, p. 55), founded on the 

 Chondria? ramcntncea C. Ag. Sp. 354, Hypnca ramentacea J. Ag. 

 Epicr. p. 561. Though in her eighty-fifth year, she recently con- 

 tributed a paper to 'Nature,' which appeared in the same number 

 as the announcement of her lamented death. 



The Rev. W. H. Painter announces that his * Flora of Derby- 

 shire ' will shortly be published. It will contain about 128 pages 

 octavo, and is ''intended to serve as a companion volume to 

 * Cybele Britannica,' the ' Compendium' to the same, and the other 

 books of the late Mr. H. C. Watson, as well as to the ' Flora of the 

 Lake District,' &c., written by Mr. J. G. Baker." The price to 

 subscribers will be 5.s. 6(/. ; names should be sent at once to the 

 author, Knypersley, Conglcton. 



