74 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Hooker and Arnott, and Babington's Manual. Up to that time I 

 think we had only Withering by which to try and identify plants. 

 We soon began to make excursions in search of specimens to the 

 London commons and other places near at hand. Wandsworth 

 Common was a particularly happy hunting ground for us, in the 

 days before it had been pared down and tidied up so as to 

 conform to municipal ideas of beauty. At that time we were 

 omnivorous collectors, especially delighting in water creatures 

 and keeping several freshwater aquaria. 



1874 was an important year with us. Up to that time we 

 knew scarcely any other naturalists, but during the year we made 

 the acquaintance, personally or by correspondence, of quite a 

 number, some of them men of considerable standing. At the 

 commencement of the year we both joined the South London 

 Microscopical and Natural History Club, then a very nourishing 

 association, and my brother soon became acquainted with Dr. 

 Braithwaite, Professor Charles Stewart, and Mr. (now Dr.) 

 Daydon Jackson. Through the medium of the exchange column 

 of Science Gossip we got into correspondence with a number of 

 British botanists, among them Mr. T. B. Blow, my brother's 

 acquaintance with whom ripened into a lifelong friendship. At 

 that time Mr. Blow was one of the most ardent of field botanists, 

 and we were carried away by his enthusiasm to study many 

 critical plants of which we had previously fought shy. To Mr. 

 Blow we were also indebted for the personal acquaintance of one 

 whom we always felt proud to have known, Hewett Cottrell 

 Watson. In October, 1874, in company with Mr. Watson and 

 Mr. Blow, we went for a short excursion in the neighbourhood of 

 Thames Ditton, when Mr. Watson showed us several interesting 

 plants. He invited us to call on him whenever we were in the 

 neighbourhood, and a number of our Saturday afternoon rambles 

 terminated at Thames Ditton. He always made us very welcome, 

 and we owed much to his help and encouragement. I think one 

 reason why he rather took to us was that we were not afraid to 

 disagree with him, and he dearly loved an argument. In 1874, 

 also, we first visited the Botanical Department of the British 

 Museum, and made the acquaintance of Mr. (now Dr.) Carruthers, 

 the late Henry Trimen, and our good friend Mr. Britten. 



An early correspondent who helped us greatly was the late 

 Andrew Brotherston, of Kelso, to whom we were indebted for 

 specimens of a great many critical plants. We also learnt a great 

 deal from the late Frederick Morgan Webb, an excellent critical 

 botanist who was for some time living close at hand. 



In 1875, thanks to the help and encouragement of our friend 

 Mr. Bagnall, we commenced the study of the Roses, and my 

 brother's discovery of Rosa hibemica on Barnes Common brought 

 us the acquaintance of another great botanist, John Gilbert Baker. 

 We also got into correspondence with Professor Crepin and 

 M. Deseglise. 



In 1875-6 we became acquainted with a large number of fresh 

 plants. In company with Mr. Blow my brother had many walks 



