in north-east England. He subsequently became a prolific writer about, and an authority on, the natural history and folklore of Berwickshire and the Scottish Borders. Sir William Hooker, a co-founder (in 1839) of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, introduced Hardy to Dr George Johnston, of Berwick-on-Tweed, and those two became close friends. Hardy began to submit to learned journals papers which were accepted and published. In 1848, he and his friend T. J. Bold published a set of three papers in Transactions of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club on the insects of Northumberland and Durham; which, although it only extended to Coleoptera, included 353 genera and 1170 species. His obituary called it "marvellously exhaustive". He did not formally join the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club until 1863; but in 1871 was appointed its co-secretary, with Dr Francis Douglas; and after the death of Douglas in 1886, served as sole secretary until 1896, when he was joined in that office by the Rev. George Gunn. In 1878, he was recorded as a farmer at Penmanshiel; but it seems that by 1886 he had retired to Old Cambus, and that his younger brother Arthur was managing Penmanshiel Farm. In 1881, in recognition of his voluntary services, the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club presented him with an inscribed microscope, and a cheque for £111 (equivalent to about £12,700) towards the binding of his collection of books, pamphlets and manuscripts. In April 1890, the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. honoris causa, a high distinction. Two months later, the club not only acclaimed it, but presented him with a handsomely illuminated address and a cheque for £400 (equivalent to about £48,400). In 1877, Hardy and a Miss Ann Halliday (they were distant relatives) of Wooler, Northumberland, had married. They had no children. It was Hardy's habit to inspect his flower garden after tea-time every day when weather permitted. On 30 September 1898, his wife, perturbed by his unusual lateness to return, discovered his lifeless body there. He was interred at Coldingham Abbey, Berwickshire; where he is commemorated in a stained-glass window. Taxa described Vibrio graminis, the nematode worm Anguina graminis (1850). Acknowledgments and recognition Taxa named in honour According to Hardy's obituarist, "several of his discoveries, still bearing the specific name of Hardyii [capital "H" in the source] will serve to keep for ever green the memory of one we loved so well". These include: