XXll 



Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



and for the first time made accessible to botanists in a connected form, 

 The significance of palfeobotany from a developmental and systematic point 

 of view thus became self-evident. Solms conceived the object of his work 

 to be the completion, from fossil data, of the Natural System of Plants. 



The ' Einleitung in die Palseophytologie,' published in 1887, and trans- 

 lated into English four years later, under the title ' Introduction to Fossil 

 Botany,' certainly made a great impression on botanists, and to many was 

 the beginning of their interest in the fossil record. The present writer was 

 among these, and well remembers how the reading of Solms' book, on its 

 first publication, revealed to him, what he had never quite realised belore, 

 that fossil plants really matter to a botanist. It prepared him to take an 

 intelligent interest, at a later date, in the things themselves. The book owed 

 its influence entirely to its solid merits as a botanical exposition of the fossil 

 evidence. It is inadequately illustrated (though tlie figures are well chosen) 

 and Solms' style was seldom attractive. 



The ' Einleitung ' appeared early in Solms' career as a palasobotanist, at 

 a time when he had pul:)lished little original work on the subject.* Hence 

 it may seem to the present-day reader to err on the side of over-caution. For 

 example, the Calamariete, though he strongly inclined to Williamson's view 

 of their affinities, are widely separated from the Equisetaceae, the whole of 

 the Lycopod series intervening. 



The 'important palfcobotanical researches which followed up the publica- 

 tion of this book were in many cases the outcome of preliminary work done 

 in the course of its preparation. The book may be said to haA'e built its 

 own tomb, for owing to the mass of new work to which it gave tlie stimulus, 

 it soon became out of date, and Solms could never be induced to consider a 

 second edition. Its historical interest as a classic will always remain. 



Solms' special work in Fossil Botany must Ije dealt with very briefly, 

 thovigh it merits a full review. Much the greater part is on remains show- 

 ing structure ; in the early and admirable memoir on Permian Coniferee 

 (1884), great stress is already laid on anatomical data. 



Solms' book contains an excellent account of Bcnnettitcs, in which he had 

 already recognised the embryo. This was followed up, in 1890, by the pub- 

 lication of his well-known paper on the fructification of B. Gibsonianus^ 

 completing the work of Carruthers, and clearing up doubtful points. This 

 investigation was on English material, and the paper was accordingly trans- 

 lated in the 'Annals of Botany' for the following year. An important memoir, 

 written in Italian, in collaboration with Capellini, on the Italian specimens 

 of Bennettiteae, was published in 1892. It was here that Solms first found 

 evidence of the bisexual character of the Bennettitean fructification, fore- 

 shadowing the brilliant discoveries of Wieland. 



In the same year Solms began a series of papers on the Lower Carboni- 



* In the inti'oduction to his paper on Permian Coniferte (1884) Sohns speaks of 

 himself as " Homo novus" in the field of Palseophytology. 



