18 



Mr. F. Turner's work on the "Forage Plants of Australia," 

 although written for practical men, pastoralists, farmers, and 

 stockmen, is none the less of scientific value. The illustrations 

 and descriptive matter first appeared in the columns of the 

 Tuwn and Country Journal, and awakened considerable interest 

 in Australia and America. The plates are specially valuable, as 

 many of the plants are figured for the first time ; and, where 

 the descriptions are not sufiiciently lengthy for the botanical 

 student, references to the " Flora Australiensis" are attached, 

 the author having most wisely retained what is, so far, the Aus- 

 ti'alasian classification. 



New South Wales has sustained serious loss during the past 

 year through the deaths of Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald and Dr. WooUs. 

 Mr. Fitzgerald, who retired from the public service of New 

 South Wales in 1887, had spent much time and energy in the 

 study and delineation of Australian orchids ; and on laying down 

 the office of Deputy Surveyor- General devoted himself to the 

 production of a monumental work on these gloriously adorned 

 gifts of the Almighty, producing under authority from his Gov- 

 ernment one complete volume of seven parts, with a coloured 

 plate of each species, and four additional parts towards a second 

 volume, when death brought his labours to a close. One of his 

 last works was to revise the Orchideae of Moore and Betche's 

 recently published Flora of New South Wales, and to place 

 all his unpublished drawings at the service of the authors. 

 Writing to Dr. W^ooUs, on receiving intimation of Mr. Fitz- 

 gerald's death. Baron von Mueller says "It is mdeed an 

 irreparable loss, not only to our favourite science, but to our- 

 selves personally, who had learned to appreciate his sterling 

 character in hfe. So long as the lovely orchids of this part of 

 the world embellish with singular and varied beauty the natural 

 features of Australia, so long will the memory of our leading 

 orchidologist be held dear." The death of Mr. Fitzgerald 

 occurred on Friday, the 12th of August, 1892, at his late resi- 

 dence, Adraville, Hunter's Hill, Sydney, in the sixty-second year 

 of his age. 



Dr. Woolls of Parramatta, a fellow-worker of Mr. Fitzgerald, 

 published in October, 1892, a poem in memory of his friend : 



