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THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



between 1894 and 1907. Another new species, B. orthoclados, 

 was discovered by him in Monmouthshire and pubHshed in 1896. 

 This has since been found in West Gloucester and near Namur, 

 in Belgium. The rest are now known (chiefly through his 

 research) to be more or less widely distributed in counties other 

 than Hereford. Two of them are dumetorum forms {triangularis 

 and radiiliformis), and the permanent value of these may possibly 

 be open to question, though to me, as to Ley, they seem constant 

 enough. The remaining nine are distinct and strongly marked, 

 and as such have, I believe, a secure position in our list. 



The work involved in producing such results as these would 

 have been very exacting if the worker had confined himself to the 

 study of such a genus as Buhus in one large county; but it has to 

 be remembered that his explorations in the neighbouring counties, 

 on both sides of the Welsh border, were almost as extensive as in 

 Herefordshire itself. There are also other forms in our list which 

 he discovered and induced me with his help to publish from time 

 to time. This great industry in research was due to his con- 

 viction that what is " worth being is worth knowing, and that its 

 pubhcation will lead into fuller truth " {Joiirn. Bot. 1908, 69), a 

 conviction which made him unwilling to disregard, as if abnormal, 

 any fairly abundant but apparently undescribed plant that he met 

 with. In some few cases other experts may not be agreed as to 

 the value of the additions thus made ; but I may be allowed to 

 express the opinion that if his new Eubi are a fair sample of their 

 real importance, there can be no question as to our indebtedness 

 to him for his work in this direction. 



In Pyrus, another genus of the same family as Bosa and 

 Buhus, Ley's interest was unflagging from 1895, when his first 

 note on his new species, P. minima, appeared in this Journal ; 

 and the lasting value of what he has done in the elucidation of this 

 genus has been recognized on the Continent as well as among us. 



As to his knowledge of Mosses, so good an expert as the Eev. 

 C. H. Binstead writes : " He took up mosses quite early in his 

 botanical career, and used to be one of our best workers. From 

 1900 he did but little, his eyesight being not quite>keen enough 

 after that date. . . . It is noteworthy, however, that it is due 

 to his perseverance that a moss, Eurhyncliium ahbreviatum, was 

 added to the list of British species. It had always been mistaken 

 for E. Stvartzii. Ley would not admit the identity, and his friend 

 Boswell, of Oxford, at last identified the species, which was well 

 known on the Continent. Up to the last he was always interested 

 in the mosses." 



As has been stated above, the Flora of Herefordshire was 

 published in 1889. In pp. 217-220 of this Journal for that year 

 appears an appreciative review by the Eev. E. S. Marshall. This 

 work, the fruit of so many years' painstaking research, at once 

 took a foremost place among our county floras, and has held it 

 ever since. One of its conspicuous excellences is the frequency 

 of brief critical notes, breaking the monotony of locality lists and 

 proving of great help to less skilful botanists than the authors. 



