OBITUARY NOTICES. 
499 
In the season of 1878 Dr. Parry made, m company with 
Dr. Edward Palmer, the first of his memorable botanical 
excursions into some of the less known parts of Mexico. The 
valuable collections there gathered were made the basis of a 
series of elaborate descriptive papers by Dr. Gray. So fasci¬ 
nated did Parry become with exploration that the remaining 
twenty years of his life were entirely devoted to it, and he 
visited and made collections in nearly all of the western 
States and Territories. These collections were so exhaustive 
and so carefully prepared that he came to be regarded as the 
most distinguished field student of his time. Though he 
wrote but little, our western flora cannot be touched at any 
point without encountering the name of Parry. Hundreds 
of species new to science were brought to light by him, and 
more than fifty species bear his name. There is hardly a 
characteristic western genus of plants but has a species named 
in his honor. That he possessed the faculty of keen, philo¬ 
sophical discrimination is shown by his treatment of the 
difficult genera Ceanothus and Choryzanthe. He was unusu¬ 
ally well fortified by a wealth of acute field observations, and 
having studied in a living state most of the plants he mono¬ 
graphed, was well qualified to pronounce on many vexed 
questions of relationship. It is probable that had he lived 
a few years longer he would have been prevailed upon to 
put on record his views on many obscure questions of plant 
affinities. 
In stature Dr. Parry was below the medium, being about 
five feet six inches in height. In complexion he was fair, 
with hair and beard well silvered at the time of his death. 
As a companion he was kindly, genial, and self-sacrificing; 
as a botanical explorer he was indefatigable,.acute, and thor¬ 
ough, and nothing escaped him, and as a student he was 
careful, discriminating, and eminently judicial. 
F. H. Knowlton. 
