275 
From  this  centre  he  explored  the  county  of  Hereford, 
to  carry  on  the  work  begun  by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Purchas  ; 
in  partnership  with  whom  he  published  in  1889,  as  the 
result  of  their  labours,  the  Flora  of  Herefordshire ,  a  work 
which  holds  a  high  place  for  thoroughness  among  the  best 
County  Floras.  This  includes  the  Mosses  and  Fungi,  the 
foimer  section  mainly  due  to  Ley’s  persevering  record  work 
and  solely  to  his  editing. 
His  perseverance  in  difficult  studies  was  a  marked 
feature  of  his  character.  Under  Mr.  Purchas’  early  guidance 
he  became  well  acquainted  with  British  flowering  plants 
generally ;  but,  to  borrow  some  remarks  of  mine  from  the 
admirable  memoir  by  the  Rev.  W.  Moyle  Rogers  ( Journ ., 
Bot.,  1911,  p.  201),  “he  took  chief  interest  in  the  more 
difficult  genera,  and  spent  an  immense  amount  of  labour 
in  collecting  material  and  working  out  species  and  varieties 
new  to  Britain  and  to  science.  In  the  genus  Rosa  he 
revised  the  mollis -tomentosa  group  *  *  -x-  In  Hieracium 
he  was  a  large  contributor  to  the  later  fascicles  of  the  “  Set 
of  British  Hieracia,”  and  he  continued  to  work  at  the 
genus,  on  which  he  was  consulted  far  and  wide.  The  list 
of  the  Bondon  Catalogue ,  ed.  10,  shows  that  he  was 
responsible  for  five  species  endemic  to  the  British  Isles ; 
and  since  its  issue  he  has  given  specific  rank  to  seven 
more  *'*■_*  His  unexpected  removal  from  us  is  a 
grievous  and  irreparable  loss  to  all  who  worked  with  him 
on  this  intricate  genus.  In  his  knowledge  of  Welsh 
Hawkweeds  his  opinion  was  invaluabJe,  Another  difficult 
genus  that  he  knew  in  the  field  better  than  any  other 
British  botanist  was  Ulmus.  The  result  of  his  work  is 
given  in  the  Journal  of  Botany  for  1910,  p.  65;  and 
though  some  revision  in  the  nomenclature  may  occur  in 
the  future,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  knew  the  British 
forms  well,  and  that  his  distinctions  will  stand.” 
In  another  most  perplexing  genus  Ley  was  an 
indefatigable  worker.  No  county  has  been  so  well 
explored  as  Herefordshire  by  him  for  Bubi ,  or  found  to 
contain  so  many  forms.  Several  of  these  were  new,  and 
of  them  eleven  species  or  varieties  were  described  by  him. 
He  was  a  contributor  to  the  Set  of  British  Rubi  ”  and 
joint  editor  in  the  final  fascicle.  He  was  a  delightful 
companion  in  the  field,  with  a  most  observant  eye  for 
