SELBORNIANA 
187 
proboscis, which is curled up under the head of the butterfly, 
is very different from the sharp, crushing, cabbage-eating jaws 
of the caterpillar. It is rarely used; but when some very 
tempting flowers are near, the insect may unfold it and place 
its tip in the honey at the bottom of the flower. The butterfly 
takes but little food, for the caterpillar had laid in such a store 
that it furnishes the new clothes of the perfect insect and its 
food as well. The caterpillar has this use, that it can spin 
a thread which in some kinds is a true silk, but the butterfly 
has nothing of the kind to do. The butterfly lays eggs and 
glues them to the dry substance nearest the future food of the 
young, and every species regularly chooses the same kind of 
tree or shrub, generation after generation. William Yorke. 
SELBORNIANA. 
GEORGE NICHOLSON, F.L.S., V.M.H., 
Died September 20, 1908. 
Now that he is no more, the ordinary conventional 
expressions of regret are entirely inadequate to express 
the feelings of those who knew Mr. George Nicholson. 
Others may and will allude to the life’s work which 
made our Honorary Member known throughout the 
world, but it is to the memory of a man and a friend 
that I would fain pay my tribute. 
Wilfred Mark Webb, 
Hon. Sec. of the Selhorne Society. 
Born at Ripon, Yorkshire, in 1847, George Nicholson 
entered the Royal Gardens, Kew, as a young gardener, 
but was soon transferred to the office, and ultimately 
became curator. He was compelled by ill-health to 
retire a few years ago, and he died at Richmond, Surrey. 
Having collected a valuable herbarium, which is pre- 
served at the Royal Gardens, and obtained a wide critical 
knowledge of plants, wild and cultivated, and especially 
of trees and shrubs, Nicholson, in 1886, received the 
coveted honour of election as Associate of the Linnean 
Society, and he became a Fellow in 1898. His invalu- 
able “ Dictionary of Gardening ” fully justified his election 
as one of the first recipients of the Victoria Medal of the 
Royal Horticultural Society. After his retirement he 
devoted himself, so far as his health permitted, to the 
preparation of the remarkable “ Wild Flora and Fauna ” 
of Kew Gardens, which has recently been issued. 
A memorial service was held at Christ Church, 
Richmond, on September 25, which was attended by 
the Director of Kew and others of the Staff, and the 
body of the deceased botanist was cremated at Woking. 
