in Beply to Mr, Vigors, 485 



and detriment of my own publication.* But there is one 

 witness yet to be intimated : a person, who, having largely 

 profited by this liberality, has measured out his acknowledge- 

 ments in an equivocal tonef and in a thankless spirit; who, 

 as a mere tyro in that science over which he now assumes 

 the dictatorship, assiduously sought and courted my acquaint- 

 ance, importuned me with interrogatory letters J, borrowed 

 specimens from my museum, expensive books from my 

 library, until his character was discovered and his acquaintance 

 renounced. There was wanting but a darker and a bolder 

 stroke to complete the picture ; that by which our real posi- 

 tions were to appear to the world as if reversed : this stroke 

 has now been given. 



But those I have named are personal friends. Now for 

 the testimony of a stranger, and of one, moreover, who 

 requested my advice and assistance in controverting my own 

 opinions ! Mr. Rennie, a gentleman I never saw, thus ex- 

 presses himself: — 



" Permit me to return you my best thanks for your prompt attention 

 and your candid remarks on my proposed introduction to Montagu. 

 They are the more valuable, as coming from a naturalist who has had so 

 many opportunities of studying the various classes of animals, and who is, 

 besides, well acquainted with the quinary system, to which I have ventured 

 to object. Your remarks, however, make me think 1 shall never be able 

 to comprehend that system. In my first proof I had treated it as claiming 



to be the natural system ; but Mr. , on reviewing that proof, disclaims 



this absolutely, and says it is altogether artificial. I amended my proof 

 accordingly, in conformity to all these minute corrections, yet you intmiate 

 that it is 9 the natural system, as Mr. MacLeay, I think, unequivocally 

 does." 



In consequence of another explanatory letter from me, 



Mr. Rennie thus replies : — 



" I feel extremely flattered and obliged by youf kind letter; so very 

 different from the treatment I have received from several other quarters, 

 where my fairness, in sending my proofs before publication, has been met 

 with abuse, instead of the manly candour of your communication." 



Here we have one party meanly betraying, or ignorantly 

 misrepresenting, his master ; and another, while he does not 

 assent to his entire theory, nevertheless defending him. Such 

 is the present state of zoological science among us. Mr. Mac 

 Leay is peculiarly unfortunate : misunderstood by his oppo- 

 nents, and misrepresented by his friends, I can only wonder 

 he has a grain of patience left. When will he return, like 

 Ulysses, and clear the hall of these pretenders ? 



* Zoological Illustrations. 



f Linn* Trans, vol. xiv. p. 465., and particularly the note at p. 513. 

 X These have been preserved ; they are unanswerable witnesses, 

 ^ " A part of" should have been here inserted. 

 I I 3 



