28 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



also an extensive acquaintance with seaweeds. As both he and 

 Robertson resided at Millport during the summer, they had many- 

 pleasant rambles together, and Hobertson's earliest experiences in 

 dredging were acquired in his company. Under Kennedy's 

 direction, Robertson became an enthusiastic collector of seaweeds; 

 and in this delightful occupation, as well as in many of his later 

 scientific researches, he found a talented and helpful colleague in 

 his wife, whose tastes were very closely akin to his own. This 

 pursuit brought him into correspondence with Dr. G. A. Walker 

 Arnott, Professor of Botany in Glasgow University, and with 

 Professor W. H. Harvey of Dublin, author of the Phycologia 

 Britannica and numerous other standard works on algse. One of 

 Mrs. Robertson's relations, Miss Mary Ann Alston, had presented 

 him with a collection of seaweeds from the Isle of Man, and in 

 acknowledging her gift Mr. Robertson wrote as follows : — "Many 

 thanks for the beautiful book of seaweeds you so kindly sent to 

 me. I have a great love for the book of nature. It yields me 

 inexhaustible sources of pleasure, and opportunities of seeing and 

 admiring the beauty and extraordinary works of the great 

 Designer. No one doubts the genuineness of His book. No one 

 ventures to aspire to the smallest share of the work. It has no 

 apocryphal portions nor misunderstood passages. The smallest 

 blade of grass carries the unmistakable impress of its omnipotent 

 Author on it. The tiniest plant, far beyond the reach of the un- 

 aided eye, demonstrates the beauty, the harmony, the perfection 

 of His works. How much more interesting is a walk in the green 

 fields or on the sea-beach when you can recognise in almost every 

 plant an old acquaintance, and call them by their names. A 

 collection of preserved plants teems with impressive memorials of 

 the past, and calls up associations of happy days long gone by, 

 bringing to memory dear companions who shared in the pleasure 

 of gathering the specimens that are almost held sacred for these 

 friends' sake." 



Many a distinguished zoologist has, as it were, served an 

 apprenticeship to science by first working in botany, and this was 

 the case with Mr. Pvobertson. Up to the time when he became 

 a member of the Natural History Society of Glasgow, he had 

 never attempted the systematic study of zoology, and his earliest 

 work in biology was confined to botanical research, While 



