Ln Memoriam—Henry Thomas Soppitt. 159 | 
was in the habit of writing frequent articles on nature topics, 
are ‘A List of the Macimals of the Bradford District’ and 
‘Our Local Reptiles.” He was a true lover of birds, and knew 
those that came within his ken as one knows one’s friends. 
To the writer’s knowledge he recently made two, if not three, 
inconvenient journeys favolyine. 3 in his much-occupied life very 
early starting and vety late returning, besides the night vigil 
en ai e e 
with rapture as though he had listened to the songs of the 
blessed souls. : 
But Soppitt’s true vocation was recognised when he began 
the study of the parasitic fungi. It was to the minute rusts and 
moulds which appear on many of our native plants that he 
turned his attention—with what success a great authority, 
Dr. Plowright, shall speak :— 
‘Some ten or twelve years ago Soppitt began the biological 
study of the Uredinew, and it is from his experimental 
researches that we know the life-history of several species 
which had previously either been shrouded in mystery or 
Wrongly interpreted. For instance, prior to his work the 
Puccinia and Acidium on Adoxa moschatellina were regarded 
as being of the same species, but he demonstrated that the 
Pacecnen is a Macipucini, and has no relation to Pucctnia 
albescens, which is an Anteupuccinia with Acidium, Uredo and 
teleutospores on prs same plant. Then he cleared up the 
life-history of Zctdium leucospermum, showing it to be an 
Endophyllum. He found its spores perininaced as those of 
Endophyllum do, and that, while they were without effect upon 
adult plants, yet seedling Anemones became affected with the 
cidium after infection, and that the fungus had nothing what- 
ever to do with the Puceinta fusca Which occurs on the same 
host-plant. It fell to his lot to be the first person to demonstrate 
a hetercecious which has its acidiospores on a Dicotyledon; this 
he did in working out the life-history of P. disforte, by proving 
that its ecidiospores occur on Conopodium denudatum. He 
attacked that complicated problem, the life history of the 
Puccinee on Phalaris arundinacea, proving that the czdium 
on Lily of the Valley belonged to one of them, which he named 
P. die. eraphidis, thereby opening a discussion amongst Con- 
tinental botanists as to the relative value of these specific forms 
Which has hardly yet been concluded. His communications to 
‘The Gardeners’ Chronicle’ were mostly upon plant diseases, 
the last being an account of his repetition and confirmation of 
Klebahn’s cultures of P. Pringshetmiana on the eee 
May 1899. 
