i;6 
MISS MARIANNE NORTH. 
LL nature-lovers owe a debt of gratitude to the lady 
who devoted great part of a lifetime to the production 
of the extensive series of plant-drawings now accom- 
modated, at her expense, in a gallery in Kew Gardens, 
and presented by her to the public. Miss Marianne North, a 
member of the Selborne Society, died on the 30th of last 
August, and a lengthened notice of her life and work, from the 
pen of her coadjutor, Mr. W. B. Hemsley, appears in the 
Journal of Botany for the current month. From this we condense 
the following sketch. 
Miss North was born at Hastings in 1830, and early de- 
veloped the great skill in painting flowers that has rendered her 
name famous. Frequent travel gave her opportunities for 
exercising this talent, until it grew into an all-absorbing passion. 
Her father died in 1869, and from that time painting was Miss 
North’s chief occupation. In 1871 or 1872 she visited North 
America and the West Indies, and painted assiduously, spend- 
ing more than two months in solitude in a lonely house amongst 
the hills of Jamaica. Her next voyage was to Brazil, where she 
was received with much distinction by the Emperor ; yet she 
lived the greater part of the time in a deserted hut in the forest, 
and her provisions were taken to her from a distance of eight 
miles by a slave woman, who is commemorated in one of the 
paintings at Kew. On the return journey Miss North called at 
Tenerifl'e. Then followed a trip round the world, with stoppages 
for work in California, Japan, Borneo, Java, Singapore, and 
Ceylon, and thence homeward again. The same year she 
returned to India, visiting the forests of the Himala}-as, the 
chief places of note on the Ganges, and Bombay ; and during 
her absence some five hundred of her paintings were exhibited 
at South Kensington. 
It was after her return from India that she first broached the 
idea of presenting her collection to the nation, and arrange- 
ments were made for the erection of a suitable building in Kew 
Gardens at her expense. In order to render the collection more 
nearly representative of the flora of the world, Miss North 
next proceeded to Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and 
the fruits of this long journey are perhaps the finest of the 
collection, very fully illustrating the most striking features of 
the marvellous Australasian flora. 
During the hanging of the pictures in the gallery provided 
for them, Miss North was there almost daily, superintending 
alterations, painting the doors, the panels in the upper gallery, 
or helping Mr. Hemsley in identifying the plants for the cata- 
logue which he prepared to accompany the drawings. The 
gallery was opened in July, 1882, and shortly afterwards Miss 
North began to make arrangements to visit South Africa, Mada- 
