50 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



imprinted alike on his contemporaries and successors. His 

 wonderful facility of expression, great stores of knowledge, 

 and his ready wit made him a most fascinating teacher — 

 whether in the class-room descanting on his favourite shell- 

 fishes and starfishes, or overflowing with delight as he 

 surveyed the curious spoon-worm of Pallas (for the first time 

 recognised in Britain), with its pink proboscis and golden 

 hooks, as it lay in hundreds on the West Sands of St 

 Andrews after a severe storm. It is no wonder that having 

 placed one in a vessel of pure sea-water he gave utterance to 

 impromptu lines long remembered by his old friends, John 

 Goodsir and John Adamson, who with John Reid, Harry 

 Goodsir, and afterwards Edward Day, and a goodly band of 

 citizens, formed the active members of the Literary and 

 Philosophical Society there — under the inspiriting Presidency 

 of the illustrious Sir David Brewster, whose interest in Natural 

 Science was almost as great as that for his own department 

 of Physical Science, and to whom the University Museum of 

 St Andrews owes a lasting debt of gratitude, not only for his 

 sagacity in locating it in the United College, but for his 

 watchful care over it, and his many valuable donations. 

 Both Edward Forbes and the brothers Goodsir made 

 communications to this Society, and Forbes in addition gave 

 lectures in connection with the University. 



How many young naturalists during the latter half of the 

 nineteenth century have been stimulated, nay fired, by the 

 perusal of Edward Forbes's British Starfishes I The 

 exquisite woodcuts, humorous tailpieces, and lively yet 

 accurate descriptions still charm the reader, even after more 

 than six decades of familiarity, for every page breathes the 

 freshness of the seashore and the exhilaration of working the 

 dredge in the open sea. And if it has this effect on an 

 ordinary naturalist, what influence does it exert on him who 

 has worked in the Sound of Bressay with the same boatman 

 and the same " dreg" amidst the luxuriant forests of tangles 

 which clothe the bottom of that rich hunting-ground ; who 

 has searched the same areas for the Lingthorn, which evolved 

 both the keen disappointment and the unfailing humour of 

 the talented naturalist? "Never having seen one before, 



