HENRY BOSWELL, 137 



that the Bryologia Britannica was in making ; and I have long been 

 under the impression that his collection of British Mosses must 

 contain a large number of Wilson's type-specimens. 



"When time had removed or lessened the activity of many of 

 these earlier friends, he found constant occupation in meeting the 

 demands made upon him by collectors who sent him mosses from 

 all quarters of the globe, near and far. To the examining and 

 naming these specimens he gave his time and labour freely and un- 

 grudgingly, and he was thus for some years engaged in a botanical 

 correspondence which few would have been prepared to undertake ; 

 but neither time, labour, nor cost interfered in his case with the 

 impulse of natural kindness and profound love of his subject to 

 assist all who, whether strangers or friends, applied to him for 

 help. He would say sometimes, in reply to some remark upon the 

 extent of his labours in this way, that he had his gain from it in 

 increase or confirmation of knowledge, and in the additions to his 

 herbarium ; and that if he possessed any special power of discrimi- 

 nating forms, or any certainty of judgment in these matters, he 

 owed it in great measure to the large amount of experience which 

 he had gained in working for others. During these years he was 

 in the habit of making short botanical excursions to various parts 

 of the United Kingdom, either alone or with a friend, often with 

 important results. 



" Keceutly, and since the retirement of Mr. Mitten, Mr. Boswell 

 did some work for the authorities at Kew. In connection with the 

 services which he rendered to the Herbarium of the Botanic 

 Garden at Oxford, it should not be forgotten ^hat he not only 

 arranged and named or verified the collection of the Muscineae 

 there, but enriched it with many additions from his own stores. 



" Mr. Boswell by no means confined his studies to his favourite 

 subject. He was well-read in general literature ; he had formed 

 reasoned views on most important topics, and could give interest to 

 their discussion. It was natural, therefore, that those whom he 

 admitted to his intimacy enjoyed his society, while his amiable and 

 generous disposition, his uprightness of character, and his gentle 

 unassuming way, secured their warm respect and regard." 



After the death of his wife, in 1888, Boswell became of more 

 sedentary habits, and in 1894 it became evident that general 

 paralysis had asserted itself. From this time his faculties gradually 

 failed, and he passed away on Thursday, February 4th. He was 

 buried at the Cemetery of St. Sepulchre on the following Tuesday. 

 His herbarium has become the property of the Oxford Bot9,nic 

 Garden. 



G. Claridge Druce. 



