Miscellaneous. 311 



differed materially from your drawing, which 1 consider to represent 

 either a distinct species or, from the peculiarity of the bill and feet, 

 a bird of the first year. The bill, feet, and legs were of a Jiesh- 

 colour ; the plumage of the head, neck, wings, centre of the back, 

 tail, and thighs glossy-black ; remainder of the plumage white. 

 Tbese birds are readily domesticated, and run about the poultry- 

 yard in the most amicable manner possible. The beak, feet, and legs 

 were of the same colour when hatched ; and the bird, dating from 

 the time it was brought forth, would be one year and eight months 

 old." 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Obituary Notice. — Arthur Henfrey, F.R.S. &c. 



It is with the most painful feelings that we have to announce 

 to our readers the death of Professor Arthur Henfrey, which took 

 place on the 7th of September, at the age of thirty-nine. In the 

 prime of life, in the fulness of his intellectual vigour — with the 

 great battle of fame, the life- struggle of the professional man of 

 science, nobly fought and won — with the rewards of his perse- 

 vering and conscientious exertions within his grasp, — this great 

 and gentle spirit has passed from the scene of his labours, 

 leaving a mournful void in the affections of his personal friends, 

 and casting a blight over those expectations which every one 

 must have formed for him, of a brilliant and useful career in the 

 department of science to which he had devoted himself. 



Professor Arthur Henfrey was born at Aberdeen, of English 

 parents, on the 1st of November, 1819. He studied medicine 

 at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he was a great favourite 

 with his teacher, Dr. Frederick Farre. On leaving the Hospital, 

 in 1843, when he became a member of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, the delicate state of his health, arising from a ten- 

 dency to bronchial affections which adhered to him through- 

 out his life, prevented him from the practice of his profession ; 

 and from that time he devoted himself exclusively to the study 

 of Botany, in which science he had already acquired great pro- 

 ficiency ; and by a course of unremitting diligence in investiga- 

 tion, he speedily placed himself in the foremost rank of English 

 botanists. In the year 184/ he was appointed Lecturer on 

 Botany at the St. George's Hospital School of Medicine, and in 

 1854 succeeded the late Professor Edward Forbes in the Botanical 

 chair at King's College. This position he retained until his 

 death, and in the course of the last few years added to it the 

 offices of Examiner in Natural Science at the Royal Military 

 Academy and to the Society of Arts. At the same time his 

 labours were incessant, both in botanical observation and in 



