﻿Roland 
  Trimen. 
  xix 
  

  

  writing 
  to 
  him 
  to 
  ask 
  if 
  he 
  could 
  send 
  me 
  Peripatus 
  capensis 
  and 
  he 
  did 
  so. 
  

   I 
  don't 
  think 
  I 
  saw 
  him 
  more 
  than 
  two 
  or 
  three 
  times 
  after 
  he 
  returned 
  to 
  

   England, 
  though 
  I 
  had 
  formed 
  a 
  high 
  opinion 
  of 
  his 
  value 
  as 
  a 
  Darwinian 
  

   worker." 
  

  

  Eoland's 
  health 
  was 
  delicate 
  and 
  after 
  four 
  or 
  five 
  years 
  at 
  King's 
  College 
  

   School, 
  which 
  he 
  entered 
  in 
  1853, 
  having 
  been 
  previously 
  at 
  a 
  private 
  school 
  

   in 
  Eottingdean, 
  he 
  was 
  advised 
  to 
  take 
  the 
  voyage 
  to 
  the 
  Cape. 
  The 
  result 
  

   was 
  considered 
  favourable, 
  and 
  he 
  returned 
  in 
  1860 
  to 
  enter 
  upon 
  his 
  

   thirty-five 
  years 
  in 
  the 
  Cape 
  Civil 
  Service. 
  

  

  On 
  October 
  31, 
  1872, 
  he 
  was 
  offered 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  following 
  year 
  entered 
  upon 
  

   the 
  duties 
  of 
  Curator 
  of 
  the 
  South 
  African 
  Museum 
  in 
  Cape 
  Town, 
  in 
  succes- 
  

   sion 
  to 
  E. 
  L. 
  Layard. 
  During 
  his 
  twenty 
  -three 
  years' 
  tenure 
  of 
  this 
  important 
  

   position 
  he 
  was 
  often, 
  as 
  he 
  wrote 
  to 
  a 
  friend 
  in 
  1910, 
  driven 
  to 
  despair, 
  

   " 
  during 
  the 
  long 
  series 
  of 
  cheese-paring 
  years 
  which 
  struck 
  the 
  chill 
  of 
  poverty 
  

   into 
  one's 
  bones." 
  Then 
  too 
  the 
  time 
  he 
  could 
  devote 
  to 
  science 
  was 
  greatly 
  

   reduced 
  by 
  administrative 
  and 
  secretarial 
  work, 
  much 
  of 
  it 
  outside 
  the 
  

   museum. 
  Thus, 
  to 
  mention 
  only 
  a 
  few 
  of 
  his 
  activities, 
  he 
  was 
  appointed 
  

   Bepresentative 
  of 
  Cape 
  Colony 
  at 
  the 
  Phylloxera 
  Congress, 
  meeting 
  at 
  

   Bordeaux 
  in 
  1881, 
  and, 
  in 
  1892, 
  a 
  Member 
  of 
  the 
  Committee 
  to 
  investigate 
  

   and 
  report 
  on 
  sea-fishing 
  with 
  a 
  view 
  to 
  legislation. 
  But 
  it 
  was 
  his 
  member- 
  

   ship 
  of 
  the 
  Phylloxera 
  Commission 
  from 
  1886,' 
  involving 
  the 
  inspection 
  of 
  

   vineyards 
  in 
  the 
  hottest 
  months 
  of 
  the 
  year, 
  that 
  finally 
  undermined 
  his 
  

   health 
  and 
  led 
  to 
  his 
  retirement 
  from 
  the 
  Curatorship 
  and 
  return 
  to 
  England 
  

   in 
  1895. 
  In 
  spite 
  of 
  the 
  fact 
  that 
  his 
  resignation 
  was 
  caused 
  by 
  Government 
  

   work 
  quite 
  outside 
  his 
  official 
  duties, 
  the 
  full 
  pension 
  was 
  not 
  awarded. 
  At 
  

   the 
  same 
  time 
  the 
  reception 
  of 
  a 
  pension 
  of 
  any 
  kind 
  from 
  the 
  Cape 
  Govern- 
  

   ment 
  rendered 
  him 
  ineligible 
  for 
  a 
  Civil 
  List 
  pension 
  at 
  home. 
  Although, 
  

   because 
  of 
  his 
  splendid 
  spirit 
  and 
  abounding 
  humour, 
  few 
  would 
  have 
  known 
  

   it, 
  the 
  last 
  21 
  years 
  of 
  his 
  life 
  were 
  years 
  of 
  disappointment 
  and 
  

   straitened 
  circumstances. 
  

  

  Eoland 
  Trimen 
  was 
  elected 
  F.E.S. 
  in 
  1883, 
  his 
  brother 
  Henry 
  in 
  1888. 
  He 
  

   was 
  President 
  of 
  the 
  South 
  African 
  Philosophical 
  Society 
  in 
  1883 
  and 
  1884, 
  

   joined 
  the 
  Entomological 
  Society 
  of 
  London 
  in 
  1859, 
  and 
  was, 
  at 
  his 
  death, 
  

   third 
  of 
  the 
  Fellows 
  in 
  seniority. 
  He 
  was 
  President 
  in 
  1897 
  and 
  1898, 
  

   choosing 
  for 
  his 
  two 
  anniversary 
  addresses 
  the 
  subjects 
  of 
  " 
  Mimicry 
  " 
  and 
  

   " 
  Seasonal 
  Variation." 
  In 
  1899, 
  during 
  his 
  residence 
  at 
  Oxford, 
  the 
  Hon. 
  

   M.A. 
  was 
  conferred 
  upon 
  him 
  by 
  the 
  University. 
  In 
  1910 
  he 
  was 
  awarded 
  

   the 
  Darwin 
  Medal 
  of 
  the 
  Eoyal 
  Society. 
  

  

  In 
  1883 
  he 
  married 
  Miss 
  Henrietta 
  Blanche 
  Bull, 
  daughter 
  of 
  H. 
  E. 
  Boys 
  

   Bull, 
  of 
  Calcutta. 
  They 
  first 
  met 
  some 
  years 
  before 
  in 
  Cape 
  Town, 
  and 
  not, 
  

   as 
  has 
  been 
  stated 
  (5), 
  in 
  Paris. 
  

  

  Trimen, 
  when 
  only 
  16, 
  began 
  to 
  record 
  his 
  observations 
  on 
  insects 
  at 
  

   Dorking, 
  publishing 
  in 
  the 
  first 
  (1856) 
  and 
  later 
  volumes 
  of 
  the 
  "Ento- 
  

   mologist's 
  Intelligencer." 
  The 
  geniality 
  and 
  humour, 
  so 
  characteristic 
  of 
  the 
  

   man, 
  were 
  evident 
  in 
  these, 
  his 
  earliest 
  writings 
  (4). 
  

  

  