33 



bloom. The present winter has certainly been hitherto unusually 

 mild, a circumstance which may be urged to account for the early 

 appearance of the flowers in question. I have, however, invariably 

 found them plentifully in February or March at the latest, and believe 

 that in this neighbourhood at least, they are " few and far between " 

 in the months mentioned by the above authors. 



Should these instances be thought worthy of notice in your pages, 

 we may hope for revision in even this subordinate department of bo- 

 tanical description. 



Tsaiah W. N. Keys. 



Plymouth, January 12th, 1848. 



Death of Mr. James Cruickshanks, a Contributor to the ' Phytologist." 



Died, at the Crichton Institution, near Dumfries, on the 3rd De- 

 cember last, in the prime of life, Mr. James Cruickshanks, Associate 

 of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. The deceased was an excel- 

 lent botanist, and particularly skilled in the obscurer Cryptogamia. 

 In the Musci and Hepaticae he was remarkably well versed, and had 

 accumulated a very extensive and complete collection of the British 

 species in these interesting orders. Nor were his acquirements con- 

 fined either to Botany or the other departments of Natural History : 

 he was no less eminent as an artist, a musician and a linguist. Al- 

 most wholly self-educated, and with a constitution much impaired by 

 disease, he gave striking proof of what may be accomplished in the 

 pursuit of knowledge under the greatest disadvantages of health and 

 opportunity. In his personal character Mr. Cruickshanks was no 

 less estimable. A pious son, a most faithful friend, generous, modest, 

 and warm-hearted, his premature death is mourned as widely as he 

 was known. P. G. 



Dumfries, January 14, 1848. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



Friday, January 7, 1848. — John Edward Gray, Esq., F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



Donations to the Library were announced from the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society of England, the President, Mr. John Miers, the Rev. 

 W. A. Leighton, Mr. G. H. K. Thwaites and Mr. F. Crisp. British 



