1921. 



Obituary — Sylvanus Wear. 



23 



OBITUARY. 



SYLVANUS WEAR. 



The Belfast Naturalists' Field Club has to mourn the loss of one of its 

 most faithful members in the person of Sylvanus Wear, who died after 

 a very brief illness on 13th November last. Shortly after retiring from 

 business and settling in Belfast in 1904, Mr. Wear became a member of 

 this Club and for many years he acted as its librarian and an ex-officio 

 member of its committee, besides undertaking many other duties in 

 connexion with the Club, He was gifted with an ideal modesty as well 

 as an endearing nature, and it follows that he was beloved by his intimate 

 friends ; so effectively did he efface himself that he was practically un- 

 known outside this small circle. Readers of the Irish Naturalist will 

 hardly be able to realise the activity with which he followed his love of 

 natural history, as he could seldom be induced to record his finds. His 

 interests were wide, but botany claimed him first, and it was in the 

 Botanical Section of the Club that his activities were most felt. Some 

 years ago when it became evident that a new Supplement to the " Flora 

 of the North-East of Ireland " was becoming a necessity, Mr. Wear 

 voluntarily undertook to collect and file all records of plants made since 

 the former supplement was published in 1895. None of us will ever know 

 how much time and love Mr. Wear spent upon this work, but it is with 

 something akin to satisfaction that we can to-day record the fact that the 

 MS. for the new Supplement was completed by Mr. Wear ten days before 

 his death. This Supplement to the " Flora of the North-East " will 

 shortly appear in print, and it is to be hoped that it will prove a fitting 

 monument to his energy and ability. 



Sylvanus was the second son of the late Thomas Wear of Felton Mills, 

 and was born at Felton in Northumberland. 



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NOTES. 



BOTANY. 



An Irish Crane's-bill. 



The report of the Botanical Exchange Club of the British Isles for 

 1919 (published 1920) contains a description of a new form of the Herb- 

 Robert by Dr. C. H. Ostenfeld of Copenhagen, to which the attention of 

 Irish botanists should be directed. His description reads as follows : — 

 G. Robertianum L. nova sub-sp. celticum Ostenfeld. Quam typus gracilius 

 et multo minus foetidum ; caules non nisi ad nodos erubescentes, etiam 

 in plantis in sole natis, petioli foliorum et pedunculi inflorescentiae quam 

 in typo breviores ; laminae foliorum superiorum quam petioli longiores. 

 Habitat : Hibernia occid. in saxis calcareis ad Ballyvaughan. The plant 



