THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 185 



THE LATE REV. W. WOOLLS, Ph.D., F.L.S. 



It is with great regret that we record the death of the Rev. Dr. 

 Woolls, the Nestor of Australian botanists, being almost an octo- 

 genarian, on the 14th of March, after a severe but very short 

 illness, though he had been ailing for the past year or two. 



He was born in Hampshire, England, and emigrated to New 

 South Wales in 1832, where he resided ever since. His life was 

 devoted to educational work. Starting as teacher of the ancient 

 languages at the Sydney Grammar School, he afterwards estab- 

 lished a school of his own at Parramatta, in which several of our 

 Victorian colonists received their education. This he conducted 

 till 1873, when he was ordained for the Anglican Church, his 

 incumbency being Richmond, on the Hawkesbury River; from 

 which ecclesiastical position he retired into private life ten years 

 later, borne down with the weight of age and long, laborious work. 



The late Dr. Woolls spent, particularly in earlier years, con- 

 siderable time in literary pursuits, being the author of several 

 works, amongst which were " A Contribution to the Flora of 

 Australia" (1867), which was printed for him by the University of 

 Gottingen, and earned for him the honorary degree of Doctor of 

 Philosophy; "Lectures on the Vegetable Kingdom" (1879), 

 " Plants Indigenous to the Neighbourhood of Sydney" (1880), 

 and "Plants of New South Wales" (1885). Some idea of the 

 magnitude of his phytographic engagements may be gained from 

 the fact that, from 1857 to some few days before his death, he 

 wrote more than one thousand letters to Baron von Mueller, who 

 has kindly furnished notes for this brief memoir. 



He was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 

 1865, and in January, 1884, became an honorary member of the 

 Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, in the welfare of which he 

 always took a great interest, contributing the following papers to 

 its Proceedings : — April, 1884 — " Notes on the Classification of 

 Eucalypts," Victorian Naturalist, vol. i., page 30; June, 1884 — 

 " Double Flowers," Victorian Naturalist, vol. i., p. 60 ; Septem- 

 ber, 18S5 — "On the Sanitary Properties of Eucalypts," Victorian 

 Aaturalist, vol. ii., p. 84; July, 1887 — "Plants of New South 

 Wales having Medicinal Properties," Victorian Naturalist, vol. 

 iv., p. 103 ; March, 1890 — "Notes on the Distribution of Aquatic 

 Plants in New South Wales," Victorian Naturalist, vol. vi., p. 

 176 ; and April, 1891 — "The Destruction of Eucalypts," Victorian 

 Naturalist, vol. viii., p. 75. He was also a contributor to the 

 " Proceedings of the Linnean Society " of his own colony. 



Among his numerous botanical observations may be mentioned 

 the discovery of several entirely new plants, some of which bear 

 his name. 



The large assemblage of mourning friends at his grave amply 

 testified to the high esteem in which he was held by the community. 



