﻿part 1] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. li 



his own : he paid his first visit to England in 1909, when he 

 attended the Darwin Celebration at Cambridge ; and it is a 

 satisfaction to learn from his daughter that, during his illness, 

 he derived no little pleasure from the recollection of the days 

 spent in this country. His dignified bearing and handsome face 

 made him conspicuous among the distinguished foreigners upon 

 whom the Chancellor conferred Honorary Degrees. Despite ex- 

 acting official duties, Prof. Zeiller found time to make numerous 

 substantial contributions to Paleobotany and, incidentally, to 

 Geology. One of his earliest works, published in 1878 (the 

 year in which he instituted the course of lectures on Paleobotany 

 at the School of Mines), is an account of the plants of the French 

 Coal Measures, the first of a series of admirable volumes on Upper 

 Carboniferous and Permian floras. The two volumes on the 

 botany of the Valenciennes Coalfield which appeared ■ in 1888 

 afford a good example of the author's thoroughness of treatment 

 and lucidity of style ; they are not merely important from the 

 point of view of the systematist and stratigraphical geologist, 

 but the enlightened and philosophical treatment of the extinct 

 types in their relation to recent plants gives them a high 

 botanical value. Zeiller's attitude was thoroughly scientific ; he 

 was always ready to consider criticisms and suggestions, and 

 punctilious in his reference to the labours of colleagues : in him 

 Solm-Laubach's aphorism, ' Bescheidenheit ist eine Zier,' was 

 conspicuously demonstrated. The description of the flora of 

 Commentry and of the plants of Autun was shared with Renault. 

 In the volumes on the Brive, Creusot, and Blanzy fossils, Zeiller 

 made many additions of the first importance to our knowledge of 

 several Palaeozoic types, notably, in the Brive flora, as regards the 

 main anatomical features of Psaronius. His work on the Coal 

 Measures of Heraklia, in Asia Minor, and his description of 

 Permian plants from Lodeve, contain much of great botanical 

 interest. Without attempting to give a list of the types which he 

 was the first to describe, or to enumerate the genera on which 

 his investigations threw new light, one may refer to his memoir 

 on the fructification of SpJienophyllum, published in 1893, as a 

 remarkable example of the valuable results that can be obtained 

 by a patient and skilful examination of unpromising material. 

 Reference must also be made to the discovery of Paleozoic 

 species closely allied to Seloginella, to his more recent researches 

 into the anatomical characters of Lepidostrobus, and to his 



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