THE ORCHID REVIEW. oe 
OBITUARY. 
Ir is with deep regret that we have to announce the death, early in Decem- 
ber last, of Major-General Emeric S. Berkeley, of Bitterne, near Southamp- 
ton, in his sixty-fifth year. The deceased, who was the son of the eminent 
fungologist, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, served for many years in the Indian 
army, during which time he paid great attention to Indian Orchids and the 
natural conditions under which they grow. The results of his observations 
were afterwards communicated to the press in a series of articles, the most 
important of which were contributed to our own pages under the title 
** Notes on Orchids in the Jungle.” This series of articles relating to 
Dendrobium, Phalznopsis, Aérides, and allied genera of popular garden 
Orchids, ran through our first three volumes, and is worth re-perusal, being 
crowded with interesting details, which show that the deceased gentleman 
was a keen observer, and possessed the faculty of recording his observations 
in avery attractive way. We may repeat a paragraph in illustration of 
this :—‘‘ Phaleenopsis tetraspis is a plant specially worth noting. We have 
not yet in England seen large plants of it, as, unfortunately, the large 
plants will not travel, and only the small ones reach England alive. But it 
is a beautiful plant in its native home. I myself saw in the South Andaman 
a plant which was many years old, the main stem bearing enormous leaves, 
quite three feet long. This plant had a progeny of children growing on the 
old flower-stems, and these plants again had produced other flower-stems 
which were also bearing plants. The whole plant was a mass of bloom, 
the original plant, the children, and the grand-children, all blooming at one 
and the same time. There were certainly at least one hundred spikes in 
flower at the same time on practically a single plant. This plant was quite 
a sight, and, as I did not gather it, I, on several occasions, took parties of 
officers up the creek to see it” (supra, i., p. 209.) This plant and the allied 
P. speciosa were originally introduced: by General Berkeley, in 1881. He 
also introduced the pretty Sarcochilus Berkeleyi, Aérides Emerici, Den- 
drobium formosum Berkeleyi, and one or two others. On retiring, he com- 
menced the cultivation of these beautiful plants, which he continued with 
great success up to the time of his death. His work was not absolutely 
confined to Orchids, nor will his name be remembered in connection with 
them alone, for it is immortalised in Emericella, a genus of Fungi, which 
he discovered in India, and sent home to his father, who named it after him. 
But it was the annals of Orchidology that were chiefly enriched by him, 
and in this connection his memory will long be cherished with gratitude by 
lovers of these beautiful plants. A note on one of his hybrids appears on the 
following page. 
