8 Obituary Notice. 



died 28th October 1882, at 17 Merchiston Avenue, Edinburgh, 

 aged seventy-three." 



In the catalogue of scientific papers published by the Royal 

 S'jciet}' of London there are fourteen memoirs. Twelve are 

 ichthyological and two botanical, which are — 



Ou a New Species of British Grass, and Observations on Some of 

 the more closely allied Species of Grasses found in the Xeighbour- 

 hood of Edinburgh. — Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., i. p. 367. 



Description of a Xew Species of Poa. — Ann. Nat. Hid., x., 1842, 

 pp. 121-124. 



George H. K. Thwaites, F.R.S. 



The third member to whom I have alluded, George Henry 

 Kexdrick Thwaites, was perhaps tbe most illustrious of our 

 colonial botanists. He began life as an accountant, applying 

 liiraself during the intervals of business to the study of Botany 

 and Entomology. He early attracted notice as a microscopist, 

 and I remember, before I went to India in 1842, Dr Greville 

 raying to me that " Thwaites in Bristol was an acute observer, 

 who would one day make a name for himself." At this time, 

 when Thwaites was pursuing his researches, Cryptogamic 

 Botany was little studied, and tlie value of his discoveries not 

 at first generally appreciated. 



In 184.'» he published, in the Annals of Natural History, a 

 note " On the Occurrence of Tetraspores in Algse." This was 

 followed by a series of papers on the structure of the lower 

 Crj'ptogams, which showed Thwaites' great capacity for careful 

 and original research. One of the most remarkable memoirs 

 was " On the Process of Conjugation in Diatomaceoe." In 

 recognition of his work, M. Montaigne dedicated to him the 

 genus Th ica itesia. 



In 1849 Thwaites was appointed Director of the Botanic 

 Garden, Peradenia, in succession to iJr Gardner, and for 

 thirty-three years he did much conscientious hard work in the 

 interests of science and Ceylon. The chief monuments of his 

 industry and careful research are the Enumeratio Plantarum 

 ZeyhaiioB, and the extensive list of Ceylon Fungi (1200), 

 published in the Journal of the Linnean Society by Messrs 

 Berkeley and Broome. He also assisted greatly in the successful 

 introduction of Cinchona and other useful products into the 

 island, and thus contributed to the welfare of the colonv. 



