194 HEINRICH GUSTAV REICHENBACH. 



the Botanic Gardens at Hamburg, to which posts he was appointed 

 in 1863, occupied much of his time ; but more was devoted to the 

 correspondence which he carried on with ahnost every grower of 

 orchids, whether professional or amateur. He was universally con- 

 sulted on all matters relating to his favourite Order; and it is to his 

 correspondence that his herbarium owes its value, containing, as it 

 does, almost every specimen that he had ever had sent him, with 

 sketches showing the structure, and copious notes ; the whole being 

 arranged with scrupulous care and neatness. 



When not engaged in professional work, Reichenbach devoted 

 his time to travelling to the different European herbaria, always 

 with a view to increasing his knowledge concerning Orchids. To 

 us in this country he has for more than twenty years been a familiar 

 figure — coming over for a stay often of many weeks, and settling 

 down at Kew, where at one time he thought of permanently residing, 

 so as to be in close proximity to the Herbarium, which contains 

 Lindley's type-collection of Orchids. During these periods, he paid 

 visits to the British Museum, and to the principal collections of 

 Orchids, of both professional and private growers, and thus became 

 personally known to most of them. Short and broad in figure, — on 

 his last visit to England, two years ago, he was mucli thinner, — with 

 aquiline nose, and sharp critical gaze sometimes turned upon his 

 listener with startling suddenness, he was a man not easily to be for- 

 gotten. His conversation was often sarcastic, but at other times 

 kindly and amusing ; he had a way of talking to himself at his work 

 which was sometimes a little startling, especially when accompanied 

 by the loud "Ho! ho!" with which he heralded some interesting 

 discovery ; and which I remember to have heard echoing through 

 the silence of the long room in the Kew Herbarium. His know- 

 ledge of English was remarkable, and his employment of it was more 

 so ; the last time he was with us, he gave me an account of his 

 interview with a cabman, in the course of which he expressed much 

 satisfaction at his acquirement of " slang English." His descriptions 

 to the 'Gardeners' Chronicle' are often couched in quaint phrase- 

 ology, and thus differ very materially from the more dignified 

 manner in which men of science are wont to express their ideas. 

 His fondness in conversation for small jokes and eccentric forms 

 of expression was represented in his literary contributions. Who 

 but he, for example, would have seized upon a misprint such 

 as ** lamina longiformis" for a comment such as the following: — 

 " ' Forma' means the circumference of a body, and 'longus' one of 

 the dimensions. Those words cannot be combined, and the ex- 

 pression reminds me of a Scsia, a butterffy, which was called 

 ' rubriforrnis.' Another lepidopterologist wished to improve the 

 name, and named the wasp-like creature in compliment to its 

 discoverer, ' Schmidtiiformis,' although Mr. Schmidt was quite a 

 normal gentleman.'"'' 



His letters were equally odd, and extremely difficult to read, often 

 containing little expressions of annoyance or dissatisfaction with one 

 person or another which it would not be desirable to perpetuate. 



* Gard. Chron. (188R) iii. 395. 



