V 
Obituary.' — Henry Harold Welch Pearson. 
far too many seeds for the size of the plant ; for instance, one of these 
Encephalartos Fredericks G uilielmi plants produces easily more than 1,500 
seeds in one season. When you think of the energy consumed in the rapid 
development of the cone . . . and the enormous quantity of carbohydrate stored 
away in the prothalli, you cannot wonder that the plant feels a bit done up 
when all is over. Is there any evidence of the existence of herbaceous Pterido- 
sperms or Gymnosperms in Mesozoic times? If there have ever been such 
Gymnosperms, is it not strange that they have left no descendants of similar 
habit ? . . . Yet the first vascular plants must have been herbaceous. What 
I have in my mind is the idea that the conditions which called forth the 
Cycads, for example, may have been entirely different from those at present 
prevailing and quite unsuitable for the existence of small perennials and 
annuals. Suppose, for example, a set of conditions which resulted in rapid 
and luxuriant growth. Then the Cycads of to-day might be the struggling 
posterity of a race of giants, preserving under adverse conditions the prolific 
reproduction of forbears which could afford such generous habits without 
endangering their existence thereby. But I must not worry you any more. 
These Cycads are most fascinating things, and they grow upon one. In the 
Eastern provinces I am rapidly acquiring a reputation for incipient imbecility, 
for I am told that there never before was any one in South Africa who would 
spend four days in the train in order to spend three days among the Palms.’ 
Early in 1915 he wrote : c I do wish you could see my Cycads. The slope 
[in the National Garden] which, when you were here [July, 1914], harboured 
one specimen of Encephalartos Altensteinii, now holds 300 plants, represent- 
ing possibly all the known and one hitherto unknown South African 
species.’ It was near to this slope that Pearson was buried on November 4, 
1916. 
Shortly after his arrival in Ceylon Pearson wrote : ‘ I am at work on 
the patana flora up country. It is far more interesting on the spot than on 
paper. The patana looks very uninteresting from a distance, as nothing 
shows but Rhododendron arboreum and a rough tussocky grass ; but it really 
bears a fairly rich flora, composed almost entirely of xerophytic plants.’ 
Several attempts had been made to explain the occurrence of a com- 
paratively barren country occupied by the savanna-like patanas at 
approximately all altitudes over 2,000 ft., in the midst of a luxuriant sub- 
tropical vegetation ; but much more information was needed. At the 
suggestion of the Director of the Peradeniya Garden (Dr. J. C. Willis), 
Pearson undertook the task of discovering the causes which led to the 
development of the flora. He concluded that the peculiarities of the climate 
have co-operated with periodically recurrent grass-fires in transforming an 
open forest into barren grassy plains. His results include an enumeration 
of the species collected, an account of their biological characters, and an 
interesting examination of the factors concerned in producing the xerophilous 
