28 
The President’ s Address. 
to astronomy, and he founded one of the best private obser- 
vatories in the country. He was elected to the office of 
President of the Royal Astronomical Society a few years since. 
By those engaged in his favorite study, as well as by many 
devoted to other branches of science, he will long be remem- 
bered for the encouragement and assistance he was at all 
times willing to afford. 
Robert Kay Greville, F.R.S.E., although not a member 
of this Society, has contributed so many valuable papers to 
our f Transactions,’ and was so well known as a distinguished 
cryptogamic botanist, that his loss cannot be passed over in 
silence. He was born at Bishop Auckland, in Durham, in 
1794, and died at his house at Murrayfield, near Edinburgh, 
in June last, after a few days’ illness. From an early age he 
had been devoted to botanical pursuits ; and though he 
entered the medical profession, he devoted himself entirely 
to his favourite study as soon as he came into possession 
of independent means. In 1824 the University of Glasgow 
conferred on him the degree of LL.D. Uniting great 
energy of character with a quick discernment of the minute 
distinctions which characterise a large proportion of the 
Cryptogamic series of plants, he at the same time possessed 
such artistic skill, that few could rival the exquisite drawings, 
especially of the microscopic plants, which were procured by 
his pencil. His earlier well-known works, the f Scottish 
Cryptogamic Flora,’ and the ‘ Algae Britannicae,’ published 
between 1823 and 1830, although containing some micro- 
scopic species, and illustrated by microscopic dissections, 
were chiefly devoted to a description and delineation of higher 
tribes of cryptogams, and are still unrivalled for the beauty 
and correctness of the drawings which illustrate the species. 
On the death, however, of his friend Dr. Gregory, he 
devoted himself almost entirely to the study of the beautiful 
siliceous frustules of the class of Diatomacea, to which he had 
been attracted by the illustrations of the papers at various 
times contributed to our own and other societies by that 
author; and since 1857 he has contributed twenty-nine papers 
on this branch of study to our f Transactions ’ and ‘Journal,’ 
besides contributions to the c Annals of Natural History,’ the 
4 Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal,’ and transactions of 
the Botanical Society of Edinburgh.’ He devotedhimself more 
especially to the delineation and description of forms hitherto 
unnoticed ; and though some may consider that many of 
these will prove on further examination mere varieties, and 
not entitled to rank as distinct species, and that his labours 
would have had more scientific value if employed in the con- 
