IN MEMORY OF HENRY TRIMEN. 493 



of Lmnaens's Flora ZeijUuiica, and published in the Linncan 

 Society's Journal (vol. xxiv.) a list of the plants therein contained, 

 with the modern equivalents of the Linntean names. The short 

 preface to this is an excellent example of Trimen's work, giving 

 as it does a history of the herbarium, and general notes upon its 

 contents. 



These of course were but preliminaries to what was to have been 

 the great work of his life — which, alas ! he was not destined to 

 finish. In 1893 appeared the first volume of the Handbook to the 

 Flora of Ceylon — a work which, as I said when reviewing it in these 

 pages,'''' occupies towards colonial floras a position similar to that 

 which the Flora of Middlesex holds with regard to that of this 

 country. To that review readers must refer for an account of the 

 work. Had the author been spared, it was his intention, as soon 

 as this large undertaking was completed, to compile from it a hand- 

 book of Ceylon plants, analogous to Babington's ^[alnlal. 



But it will cause no surprise to those who saw him when he was 

 home last year that Trimen was unable to complete his enterprise. 

 He had for years suffered from deafness, and this had become total, 

 so that he was only able to carry on conversation with the aid of a 

 pencil and paper. One leg was then entirely paralyzed, and although 

 in spite of these and other troubles he maintained his old cheerful- 

 ness of demeanour, it was very painful to his old friends to see the 

 state to which he had been reduced. We had hoped that he would 

 not go back to Ceylon, but there were reasons — among them that 

 anxiety to complete his Flora which, as we shall see, was with him 

 literally to the last — which induced him to do so ; and I think no 

 one expected he would ever return to England. 



I am indebted to his elder brother, Mr. Koland Triraen, a dis- 

 tinguished entomologist, for the following account of the closing 

 scene of Trimen's earthly carter: — 



"After the attack in August last, which deprived him of all 

 power in his left leg, my brother seemed to rally somewhat, though 

 confined almost entirely to his room, being only taken out into the 

 Gardens at his own request two or three times. On Wednesday 

 morning, October 14th, he was suddenly seized with a feeling of 

 chilliness and violent shakings of the hands and arms, his voice 

 being at the same time somewhat affected. This he himself did 

 not regard seriously, but Mr. Freeman at once went to Kandy to 

 summon the doctor. He lay helpless all the day, and had to be fed with 

 what little nourishment he was able to take. In the later half of the 

 night he slept well, and on Thursday morning his first words were that 

 he felt rather better, and must get up and do a little work at the * Flora.' 

 This he actually did in the afternoon, and with great efi'ort made a 

 few notes, which. Freeman writes, are scarcely decipherable. This 

 pathetic endeavour still to work on seems to have been the last 

 flicker of his strength ; for during the sleepless night of Thursday, 

 15th, his attempts to speak were almost inaudible, and on Friday he 

 rapidly passed into a state of coma, though sometimes looking up 



Journ. Dot. 1893, 376. 



