IM 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



MOLLUSKS. 

 Boreotrophon macouni, Dall and Bartsch. 

 Turbonilla (Pyrogolampros) macouni, Dall and 

 Bartsch. 



INSECTS — BUTTERFLY. 

 Oeneis macounii, Edwards. 



FISH. 

 Chauliodus macouni, Bean. 



Total, 45 species. 



Until the year before he died he continued quite 

 active, but his heart finally gave him trouble, and 

 following a severe attack of whooping cough in the 

 spring cf 1920 his vitality was much lowered and 

 after less than a week's confinement to the house 

 he died at Sidney, Vancouver Island, on July 18. 

 During the last few months of his life, when he 

 could no longer go far from home, it was his de- 

 light, under the name of "Rambler," to name plants 

 sent in for identification through the local paper, 

 the Sidney Review. After his death the following 

 tribute appeared in that paper: "Rambler" is 

 dead. The beautiful flowers of the forest, which 

 he loved so well, will never again receive the gentle 

 touch of "Rambler." The flowers among which he 

 spent the greater part of his life will miss him no 

 less than those of our readers who took much in- 

 terest and received great pleasure from this de- 

 partment of the Review. Professor John Macoun, 

 ("Rambler"), died last Sunday morning." 



He had many strong and outstanding personal 

 characteristics. His determination and persever- 

 ance are marked through all his early explorations, 

 and many accounts might be related where it was 

 nothing but sheer determination that carried him 

 safely through perilous and exhaustive situations. 

 After his recovery from the paralytic stroke in 1912. 

 which left his right hand in such condition that he 

 could not write with it, he determined to write with 

 his left, and from that time on did so in a very 

 legible handwriting He could never be idle and 

 had nothing to regret in his old age over wasted 

 days and nights, for he worked both night and day 

 until a few years before his death, when he spent 

 his evenings in reading. He was a very wide 

 reader and kept himself well posted on the events 

 of the world to the very last, and, having been a 

 great reader for so many years, he was a veritable 

 encyclopedia. He had a wonderfully retentive 

 memory, and could give the year and the day of 

 the month where he had been when anything out 

 of the ordinary occurred in his personal experience 

 apparently back to his childhood. He could give 

 the scientific name on sight of thousands of flower- 

 ing plants, mosses, lichens, liveworts, and fungi. 



His quickness in this respect was remarkable, but 

 quickness was one of his strong characteristics both 

 in his actions and in his speech. His repartee was 

 so keen that he was seldom, if ever, cornered in an 

 argument, and he delighted in discussing any matter 

 of general or personal interest. He had an ex- 

 tremely logical mind and had great power of ac- 

 curate deduction when given a few important facts. 

 He was very emphatic in his statements, and his 

 enthusiasm was so great that the combination of 

 these two characteristics made his personality a 

 striking one. With these two traits, however, went 

 a very humorous disposition, and many an audience 

 and individual went into bursts of laughter over his 

 way of putting things. His honesty was proverbial 

 and he was very frank and outspoken in regard to 

 wrongdoing. He was kind and generous not only 

 to his family and near friends but to those from 

 whom he did not expect to receive anything in re- 

 turn. He believed that there was an Overruling 

 Power, but that men had much to do in shaping 

 their own destiny. 



Perhaps the strongest trait in Professor Macoun's 

 character was a sympathetic undertanding of his 

 fellow-men, one that made him hosts of friends and 

 a much sought advisor in questions of doubt and 

 difficulty. The honesty of his opinion and the 

 straightforwardness with which his advice was giv- 

 en, in conjunction with his sympathetic manner of 

 giving it, secured for him a respect and affection 

 that lasted a lifetime. His wonderful magnetsm and 

 ready tact constituted him a leader of men, and 

 had his great abilities turned to statesmanship he 

 would have been a great power for the good of his 

 country. He was a true Imperialist and a firm be- 

 liever in the strength and integrity of the British 

 Empire. 



His dearest wish was to live until the termination 

 of the Great War, every phase of which he studied 

 with the most intense interest, and his fervent hope 

 was that he might be spared to see a proper readjust- 

 ment of subsequent world conditions, and a ful- 

 filment of the high ideals that were at stake. 



Prof. Macoun was a Presbyterian in religion, and 

 was an elder in St. Andrew's Church, Ottawa, for 

 many years previous to his departure for British 

 Columbia in 1912. 



He was married in 1862 to Miss Ellen Terrill, 

 Wooler, Ont., who survives him. His children are: 

 Mrs. A. O. Wheeler, Sidney, B.C.; Mrs. R. A. 

 Kingman, Wallingford, Vt. ; Mrs. W. M. Everall, 

 Victoria, B.C.; and Mr. W. T. Macoun, Do- 

 minion Horticulturist, Experimental Farm, Ottawa, 

 Ont. His eldest son, Mr. James M. Macoun, Chief 

 of the Biological Division of the Geological Sur- 

 vey, predeceased him by a few months. 



W.T.M. 



