I am writing these concluding words on the second anniversary of his death.  Before me there lies the telegram which brought me the sad news that he had “passed away very peacefully at 9.25 a.m., without regaining consciousness.”  He was in his ninety-first year.  It was suggested that he should be buried in Westminster Abbey, beside Charles Darwin, but Mrs. Wallace and the family, expressing his own wishes as well as theirs, did not desire it.  On Monday, November 10th, he was laid to rest with touching simplicity in the little cemetery of Broadstone, on a pine-clad hill swept by ocean breezes.  He was followed on his last earthly journey by his son and daughter, by Miss Mitten, his sister-in-law, and by the present writer.  Mrs. Wallace, being an invalid, was unable to attend.  The funeral service was conducted by the Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Ridgeway), and among the official representatives were Prof.  Raphael Meldola and Prof.  E.B.  Poulton representing the Royal Society; the latter and Dr. Scott representing the Linnean Society, and Mr. Joseph Hyder the Land Nationalisation Society.  A singularly appropriate monument, consisting of a fossil tree-trunk from the Portland beds, has been erected over his grave upon a base of Purbeck stone, which bears the following inscription: 

  ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, O.M. 
  Born Jan. 8th, 1823, Died Nov. 7th, 1913

A year later, on the 10th of December, 1914, his widow died after a long illness, and was buried in the same grave.  She was the eldest daughter of Mr. William Mitten, of Hurstpierpoint, an enthusiastic botanist, and in no mean degree she inherited her father’s love of wild flowers and of the beautiful in nature.  It was this similarity of tastes which led to her close intimacy and subsequent marriage, in 1866, with Wallace.  Their married life was an exceedingly happy one.  She was able to help him in his scientific labours, and she provided that atmosphere in the home life which enabled him to devote himself to his many-sided enterprises.  And nothing would give him more joy than to know that this book is dedicated to her memory.

[Illustration:  THE GRAVE OF ALFRED RUSSEL AND ANNIE WALLACE]

Soon after Wallace’s death a Committee was formed (with Prof.  Poulton as Chairman and Prof.  Meldola as Treasurer) to erect a memorial, and the following petition was sent to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey: 

We, the undersigned, earnestly desiring a suitable national memorial to the late Alfred Russel Wallace, and believing that no position would be so appropriate as Westminster Abbey, the burial-place of his illustrious fellow-worker Charles Darwin, petition the Right Reverend the Dean and Chapter for permission to place a medallion in Westminster Abbey.  We further guarantee, if the medallion be accepted, to pay the Abbey fees of L200.

  ARCH.  GEIKIE
  WILLIAM CROOKES
  A.B.  KEMPE
  E. RAY LANKESTER