Botanists and horticulturists generally will regret to hear of the death of this gentleman which occurred at his home in Aiken, S. C, on the 17th of July, after a protracted illness. He was born in the Parish of St. John's, Berkeley, S. C, May 19th, 1814. After receiving the usual high-school training, he entered the South Carolina College and graduated with distinction in 1832. Soon after graduation he engaged in planting or as it would be generally styled, farming, in St. John's, Berkley, and continued it for twenty years. Early in life he commenced his botanical researches, and his natural fondness for these pursuits was increased by an infirmity of hearing which cut him off from most of the ordinary occupations of life. In the course of his career he has steadily added to his Herbarium and has left in the possession of his family one of the most complete collections of both Phen-ogamous and Cryptogamous plants to be found on either side of the Atlantic.

He prepared several volumes of Fungi, called "Fungi Caroliniani Exsiccati" which were published in this country and attracted marked attention. He also acted as American Botanist in connection with his friend Professor Cook, of London, England, in preparing several other volumes of Fungi. These last were published in England, in editions of only one hundred copies each, which were bought with avidity by scientists at five guineas per copy. The net proceeds of these publications were remitted him by his friend, Professor Cook, but as the editions were small and the expenses of publication very heavy, the pecuniary profit was not great. In the course of his investigations he discovered many new species of plants, and more than fifty plants now bear his name in the botanical works of the day.

In 1869 he went as Botanist with Professor Gangee by appointment of the United States government to investigate the cause of the cattle disease then prevailing in Texas. A learned and elaborate report was published from the data obtained on this expedition, and it was ascertained that the disease was not due to the presence of fungi.

In 1849 he was elected correspondent of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia, Pa. In 1883 he was elected member of the Zool-ogisch Botanische Gessellschaft of Vienna, Austria, and in 1886 the degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by the University of North Carolina. For a couple of years he edited the agricultural department of the weekly News and Courier with great ability, and at the time of his death was botanist to the State Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Ravenel was married in 1835 to Miss Elizabeth Gilliard Snowden, of St. John's, Berkley, who died in 1855. By this marriage he had six children, four of whom survive, one a son living at Darien, Ga., and all useful and honored members of society. In 1858 he married Miss Mary Huger Dawson, of Charleston, who with five children, all daughters, survive to mourn their irreparable loss.

Dr. Ravenel moved to Aiken in 1853, consequently he has been a resident for thirty-four years.

The war swept away nearly all his property, but he met his adversities with Christian fortitude and courage, doing his duty faithfully unto the end.

In scientific matters he was very conscientious. Only a few months before his death, a question occurred in our magazine in relation to the power of some plants to set fruit without fertilization. Prof. Byron Halsted had found in his experiments that cucumbers would not. Dr. Ravenel thought figs would. In a private letter to the Editor he contended that in the South no fig had ever male flowers inside, nothing but female flowers, and yet the fruit - figs - freely followed. Because the Editor sent him a young fig in which a few male flowers could be discerned, he wrote requesting that his paper should not be published rather than risk the slightest inaccuracy.