BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 239 



South America, South Africa, West Austraha and other places : 

 these include such common garden plants as Aubrietta deltoidea 

 from a " roadside wall," such annuals as Nemophila insignis, and 

 such garden trees as the Quince : in one case " only a single 

 specimen " was seen, but this gave Mr. Druce the opportunity of 

 renaming it. Whatever may be said as to the desirability of 

 recording such introductions, it seems ridiculous to speak of them 

 as " new to Britain " (p. 25) ; on pp. 21-22 we read of five 

 Composited — from West Australia, South America, and South 

 Africa, as " for the first time recorded as British, through 

 the persevering industry of Miss Hayward," who seems to 

 have found inexhaustible rubbish-heaps near Galashiels. We 

 note that Mr. Druce refers incidentally (p. 44) to " the 

 general accuracy of the lists supplied to Mr. H. C. Watson 

 by Mr. J. F. Robinson." Mr. Dallman's deliberate ignoring of 

 these lists (see Journ. Bot. 1907, 138) is more than justified by 

 the information supplied, from personal knowledge, in this 

 Journal for 1904, p. 300 ; and we are entirely at a loss to con- 

 jecture on what ground Mr. Druce has constituted himself the 

 champion of a writer so hopelessly and, we fear, so mighty 

 consciously inaccurate. 



David Fey, who ranked among the abler West of England 

 botanists, died last January in his native city of Bristol at the 

 age of seventy-eight. The youngest member of a distinguished 

 family identified with Bristol's progress for many generations, he 

 shared the exceptional mental and physical vigour of his race. 

 His elder surviving brothers are Joseph Storrs Fry, head of the 

 great cocoa firm and a munificent philanthropist ; Sir Edward 

 Fry; and the Right Hon. Lewis Fry, P.O., late M.P. for Bristol 

 North. Their father's residence was in Great George Street, on 

 the slope of Brandon Hill ; and here, with the rare plants of that 

 peculiar locality almost at their door, two at least of the boys 

 seem to have imbibed the love of natural history study that deve- 

 loped in later life. David was engaged in commerce until middle 

 age, and did not show a keen interest in botany until he retired 

 from business. Then, in a surprisingly short time, he acquired a 

 good knowledge of the British flora, directing his attention mainly 

 to our more difficult genera. His patience, careful observation, 

 and acute analytical perception, enabled him to master the Epi- 

 lobia, Rubi, Salices, and Carices of the district, and gave him a 

 place of honour among his botanical associates. He never seemed 

 desirous of publishing results of his observation ; but w^as content, 

 in general, to join his friends C. Bucknall and J. W. White in 

 the collective notes on local plants that appeared in this Journal 

 at intervals during the past twenty years. A strong liking for 

 field-work and gardening led to successive country residences at 

 Clevedon, Stanton Drew, Keynsham, Corston, and Saltford, all 

 in North Somerset. At these homes many interesting species 

 were cultivated, and the surrounding country thoroughly explored 

 for plants. Mr. Fry's contributions to the Flora of Bristol, 

 recently published, were correspondingly extensive, and his into- 



