Obituary Notices. 17 



authoritative opinion expressed regarding them by Pro- 

 fessor Grisebach. In 1866 he brought out " The Geo- 

 graphical Distribution of West Indian Plants." 1866 saw 

 the publication by him of " The Vegetation Eegions of the 

 Earth clearly arranged." A paper " On the Grasses of 

 High Asia" appeared from his pen in 1868. Besides the 

 above, he wrote many other articles more or less closely 

 connected with phytogeography, as, e.g., some of the plants 

 of Surinam, in Dutch Guiana. In 1849 he furnished the 

 articles on " Malpighiaceee and Gentianacese" in Klotsch's 

 "■ Contributicns to the Flora of the Equinoctial Eegions of 

 the New World." Ten years previously (1839) he had 

 written on the "Malpighiads of Brazil"; and along with 

 Oersted, in 1853, he wrote on the " Malpighiads of Central 

 America, with Notes on Coutuhea voluhiUs, Mart., and 

 some other Gentians of Tropical America." To the Gentians 

 he had long had his attention directed, for we find him 

 carefully studying that family while a student at Berlin, 

 and he brought out his monograph on the subject shortly 

 after his return to Gottingen ; and in the " Annals of 

 Natural History " for 1838 he is found associated with 

 Hooker in a paper on the " Gentiana scilloides" Linn, fils., 

 with some remarks on the genus. In 1843 he first pub- 

 lished his " Gentianece" and in 1853, " Sclienhia" (so called 

 after his friend), a new genus of Gentianacece. From time 

 to time he also furnished reports on the progress of syste- 

 matic botany. Many other writings from this fertile 

 mind could be adduced, but enough has surely been 

 brought under your notice to prove that with such rare 

 and superlative qualifications Grisebach stood out as pre- 

 eminently the man who could do justice to such an opus 

 magnum as the " Die Vegetation der Erde," and accordingly 

 we find this publication occupying the very foremost place, 

 being indeed the only comprehensive work on that subject. 

 After its appearance, as already stated, in 1872, Grisebach 

 was not inactive, but continued, as above indicated, his 

 " Phytogeographical Keports." In his great work he 

 divides the earth into twenty-four regions of vegetation, 

 depending on physical and climatological considerations ; 

 and of this arrangement Bentham has thus expressed him- 

 self: "A closer examination of his regions shows them to 



TRANS. BOT. SOC. VOL. XIV. B 



