Hermann Graf zu Solms-Lauhach. 



XIX 



sterility of hybrid birds due to abnormal spermatogeuesis and the develop- 

 ment of giant spermatozoa. 



Smith seems to have possessed " the gift of penetrating the secrets of 

 Nature." As in play so in work, he never wasted time or strength. Pre- 

 ferring the simplest methods, he worked rapidly and reached his conclusions 

 quickly. Yet when needful no one was more careful to scrutinise results 

 and test them with the use of the best techuifjue and most scrupulous 

 impartiality. 



Several of his works were written in collaboration with others, for he- 

 was an excellent teacher, and always most successful in inspiring his friends 

 and pupils with some of the enthusiasm he felt so keenly himself. 



E. S. G. 



HEEMAXX GEAF ZU SOLMS-LAUBACH, 1842-1915. 



Hermann Gi!AF zu Solms-Laubach was born on December 23, 1842, at 

 Laubach, in Upper Hesse, the seat of his branch of the ancient family of 

 Solms, which traces its descent to Marquard, Graf zu Solms im Oberen 

 Lahngau, in 1129. His parents were Graf Otto zu Solms and the Grafin 

 Luitgard, Princess of "VVied.* 



On leaving school, Solms wished to pursue a learned career, but his 

 father objected, not, as has sometimes been said, on family grounds, but 

 because he did not consider his son sufficiently gifted. It appears that he 

 had not done iiniformly well at school. However, he was eventually 

 allowed to enter at the University of Giessen ; at that time he was still in 

 doubt whether to take up History or Natural Science. It was Leuckart's 

 lectures on Comparative Anatomy which attracted him to the latter. That 

 he ultimately followed Botany rather than Zoology was due to his early 

 surroundings, for both his uncle and his eldest brother were botanists, and 

 Solms' interest in the subject began when he was still a boy. 



After one term he left Giessen for Berlin, where he attended Alexander 

 Braun's lectures on Botany. He afterwards spent a term with de Bary at 

 Freiburg (the beginning of an association which influenced his whole life), 

 ljut it was at Berlin that he took his Degree in 1865. His dissertation was 

 on a parasitic plant, the Toothwort (de Laihrcece generis positione systematica), 

 a line of work which occupied him much in later years. 



■* For many details of .Solms' life the writer is indebted to the obituary notice by his 

 successor, Prof. Jost, in 'Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft,' vol. 33, 

 pp. 95-112 (1916). 



VOL. XC. — B. e 



