4 Proceedings of the Royal Physiccd Society. 



ago, attended our meetings regularly ; and whose kind, un- 

 assuming, and amiable character, endeared him to all his 

 friends and associates. He was born on the 17th June 1815, 

 at Dirleton, East Lothian, of which parish his father, the 

 Eev. William Stark, was for thirty years the minister ; and 

 from whom he inherited a love of botanical pursuits, and, it 

 may be added, his very retiring disposition. After finishing 

 his education, Mr Stark entered the firm of Lawson & Sons, 

 to learn the business of a nursery and seeds man. He then 

 became a partner with Dickson & Sons; and ultimately 

 having acquired a lease of the Dean ISTursery, he set up in 

 business on his own account, and was famed for his choice 

 collection of rare herbaceous and Alpine plants, to the culti- 

 vation of which he more especially devoted his attention. A 

 few years ago he gave up this business, and took up his 

 residence at Trinity, where he still continued to cultivate his 

 favourite plants in a small nursery there, to which he was 

 constantly adding new and rare specimens. 



In the summer and autumn of 1865, Mr Stark made a 

 botanical excursion to Canada and the Northern States of 

 America ; the results of which he afterwards published in a 

 series of papers of much botanical and horticultural interest, 

 in the Fanners Journal. The next summer he paid a visit 

 to Switzerland, and brought home a large collection of Alpine 

 plants, which were added to his select and valuable stock at 

 Trinity. In the spring of 1870, Mr Stark removed to London, 

 where he intended to carry on the business to which he had 

 latterly restricted himself — that of the cultivation and dis- 

 posal of rare Alpine and herbaceous plants. His health, 

 however, about this time bes^an to fail, and durin^? the last 

 three years of his life he was entirely laid aside from business, 

 and from his favourite botanical excursions. He died in 

 London on the 29th September 1873. 



Mr Stark was twice married ; his first wife was a daughter 

 of the Eev. Dr David Landsborough, well known for his 

 admirable writings on natural history. His second wife, Miss 

 Henderson, belonged to London, and watched over him in 

 his long and trying illness with the utmost care and devoted 

 affection. 



