32 



OBITUARY. 



coast, but could not be satisfactorily identified by the Indian 

 authorities. The specimen having been examined by Dr. J. 

 Anderson (late of Calcutta), and Mr. Dendy of the British 

 Museum, they inclined to regard it as possibly the consolidated roe 

 of a fish, while Prof. C. Stewart surmised the substance as vege- 

 table in structure ; decision was left sub judice, pending further 

 microscopic and chemical investigation. A paper was read by Mr. 

 C. B. Clarke, " On a new Species of Panicum, with remarks on the 

 Terminology of the Gvaminece." 



OBITUARY. 



On Friday, the 14th October, 1887, Mr. John Price, M.A., died 

 at his residence in Chester. Mr. Price was eighty-four years of age, 

 but long years ago he was familiarly known by a wide circle of 

 friends as " Old Price " — a title self-bestowed, but which seemed 

 quite naturally to incorporate the many aspects of his character as 

 he was known, not only to those who came into more immediate 

 contact with him as teacher, friend, or philanthropist, but to those 

 fortunate enough to be familiar with some quaint essays and odd 

 papers and poems bound together in a now scarce volume, entitled, 

 with characteristic fancy, * Old Price's Kemains.' Mr. Price was 

 born at Pwllycrochon, North Wales. He received his earlier 

 education at Chester, and afterwards went to Shrewsbury School, 

 where, under Dr. Butler, he had Charles Darwin as a school- fellow. 

 He went afterwards to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he 

 became a tutor. After a residence extending over many years at 

 Birkenhead, he eventually made Chester his home. Mr. Price was 

 an honorary member and chairman of the botanical section of the 

 Chester Natural Science Society, and was the second recipient (Mrs. 

 Kingsley being the first) of the Kingsley memorial medal given by 

 the Society to those who have contributed materially to the advance- 

 ment of Science in the district. Mr. Price took special delight in 

 biological study, and more particularly in botanical research. As 

 a teacher and lecturer his methods were unique, and full of an 

 originality and refined humour peculiarly his own. His attention 

 and devotion to any subject which commended itself to him ended 

 often in the announcement of unexpected discoveries and a pro- 

 pounding of curious theories, which set numbers of his hearers 

 thinking and working in new fields. In his garden he had his beds 

 filled with huge plants of the giant Iltntcleinn, which always yielded 

 abundant matter for speculative reasoning and close examination ; 

 he carried with him, frequently for weeks at a time, leaves of 

 Ctinlamine in a small phial of water to watch the process of develop- 

 ment oi leaf propagation. His lectures and letters were always 

 characteristic and delightful, marked invariably with that strong 

 individuality which he never lost. — Edmund J. Baillie. 



