1918-19.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 343 



Botany in 1905, as well as those in some other sciences ; and 

 a natural aptitude and taste for practical science held him. 

 He took the B.Sc. degree in 1909, distinguishing himself 

 particularly in Botany and Chemistry. But he decided 

 upon the former as his life's work, and was promoted at 

 once Junior Assistant in Botany in the University of 

 Glasgow. Incidental!}^ he had won the Dobbie-Smith 

 Gold Medal, and held the Donaldson Research Scholarship. 



While carrying out his departmental work with a 

 cheerfulness and vigour that gave savour to its success, 

 he entered at once on research. His first memoir M-as 

 devoted to Peranema and Diacalpe, two genera of Eastern 

 Ferns, which his observations have placed securely in 

 their natural affinity. In 1912 he joined the staff of 

 Professor Balfour in Edinburgh as assistant, and soon 

 obtained promotion to the position of Lecturer, having 

 special charge of the large classes for Teachers in Training. 

 Meanwhile he was able to devote considerable time to 

 research. He entered on a wide comparative investigation 

 of the anatomy of the Pinna-Trace in Ferns, and he con- 

 tributed two memoirs on this subject to the Transactions 

 of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His inquiry covered 

 a large area of observation and was extended to the Cycads 

 and Angiosperms. His results indicate that while in some 

 degree the structure shown is related to immediate physio- 

 logical needs, there is a substantial correspondence of detail 

 with phyletic comparisons based on other characters. In 

 fact, while the pinna-trace can be used as a subsidiary line 

 of evidence, it cannot serve as a criterion of decisive 

 importance in comparison. This was the most substantial 

 contribution which he made to Botanical inquiry, and, 

 together with his earlier papers, it provided his thesis for 

 the Doctorate of Science in Glasgow, to which degree he 

 was admitted in 1915. 



Davie's investigations were, however, interrupted in 1914 

 by a journey to Brazil to collect materials for a comparison 

 of certain Families of Flowering Plants. A grant was 

 obtained from the Royal Society for this purpose. He 

 travelled and collected in the neighbourhood of Rio and 

 in the Organ Mountains. On his return, in the early days 

 of the war, he first worked out his collections systemati- 



