If we review the progress of any one of the natural sciences we shall find it is but the outcome of the genius and labours of many individual workers, who have devoted themselves for years to some particular branch of discovery or research. Taking palæobotany as an illustration, we may cite the name of William Carruthers as a striking example of an individual worker in that field, who, during more than a quarter of a century, specially devoted himself to the investigation and description of fossil plants, and has thus added largely to a knowledge of this section of the science of palæontology.