William Mitten, A.L.S., Bryologist. -By the death of this 
y'entleman Ivt-w lilts lost a verv old correspondent and a valued 
collaborator. His first letter to Sir William Hooker is dated 
December 8th, 1846, and relates to the parasitism of Thesium 
'in, in connection with a paper which appeared in 
Hooker's " London Journal of Botany" in 1847, and was repro- 
duced in the " Annales des Sciences Xaturelles " and other pub- 
lications. 
He was born at Hui'stpe point. Sussex. <n\ November odth. 1>10, 
and died in ihe same place. July 27th, mill, so that he was in his 
eighty-seventh year. He was a pharmaceutical chemist by prol'es- 
i botanist by predilection. As <[uite a young man he took 
a number of Bpecies, especially 
of mosses, not previously recorded as growing in this country. 
Through his early discoveries he became acquainted with the late 
William Borrer of the uljnininy parish of Henfield. This 
acquaintance ripened into friendship and was the means of 
bringintr Mitten under the notice of other botanists, notably 
Sir William Hooker, through whose influence and support he 
concentrated his attention more particularly on the Musei and 
Hepaticae, as to which he soon became a recognised authority. 
For many years most of the Kew collections of these natural 
orders were sent to him for elaboration and they formed the basis 
of most of his publications. His earliest records and contributions 
appeared in the " f'hvtolo- >;."" froi IS 12: Hook. r"s "Journal of 
Botany," from 1847*: the "Annals of Natural History," from 
1851; and the "Journal of the Linnean Society," from 1859. 
Noteworthy amonirsi - - .- Carer nwnt'ina, L , 
which he collected in L843, near Eridge, Sussex, about a mile 
south of Tunbridge Wells. This is the first record for Britain ; 
but the species has since been found in most of the southern 
Counties, from Kent to Devon and Shropshire. 
In 1849 Sir William Hooker offered him the Curatorship of his 
herbarium, in succession to J. E. Planchon ; but he had to 
decline for financial reasons, and the same year he acquired a 
chemist's business at Hurst, which he carried on, with the assist- 
ance of his daughter, Miss Flora Mitten, up to his death. 
Among his earl ei c t lb it l i of greater length to botanical 
literature are tie Hepaticae to Hooker's "Flora Novae Zelandiae," 
in 1855, and to Hooker's " Flora Tasmaniae," in 1860. His most 
comprehensive work, the - Muse': Austro-Americani," occupies the 
whole of the twelfth volume of the "Journal of the Linnean 
Society." a ! H/J. It contains Latin descrip- 
tions of 1,7 K tiding very 
many new ones. This represented the labour of many years, and 
was a remarkable achievement for an amateur having a multitude 
of duties to perform. Richard Spruce's collection formed the 
foundation of this work, which also includes collections made 
by Burchell, Weir, Mathews, Jameson and others m South 
America. It also includes the mosses of that part of Central 
America which lies within the tropics, of the West Indies, of 
the Falkland Islands, and of Juan Fernandez, which are not 
covered by the title. 
