The Scottish Naturalist. 293 



portant additions to the British marine fauna ; and these additions 

 have been frequently acknowledged by specialists, to whom 

 assistance of the utmost value was rendered by both of these 

 naturalists. 



Of both it may be said, with truth, that they were born natural- 

 ists, with whom the love of Nature was a ruling and uncontrollable 

 passion. In Thomas Edward it showed itself at an extremely 

 early age, if his biography is to be fully relied on ; and even if 

 some of the earlier stories in it have to be discounted a good deal, 

 to make allowance for unconscious exaggerations, yet the ruling 

 passion was evident long before the age when any very strong 

 taste can usually be recognised in boys. Of him it may truly be 

 said that he loved Nature not wisely, but too well ; since his 

 irresistible inclination to make pets of creatures (such as newts, 

 caterpillars, and the like), dreaded and abhorred by the general 

 community, frequently brought him into disgrace in his early 

 years ; and interfered, directly and indirectly, with his education. 

 Nor were his troubles at an end after he had grown up ; for his 

 pursuit of knowledge under difficulties occupied far more of his 

 time than a tradesman could well spare with due attention to 

 health ; and also led him into financial difficulties, that proved 

 nearly ruinous to him. 



He was born on Christmas Day, 1814, in Gosport ; where his 

 father was serving with the Fifeshire militia, during the troubled 

 times that preceded Waterloo. His father was a native of Fife ; 

 his mother belonged to Aberdeen. His father, after his return 

 from military service, settled in Kettle, in Fife ; but in a short 

 time he removed to Aberdeen, where he continued to work as a 

 linen-weaver. iVberdeen then, was a much smaller town than it 

 is now ; and the railway stations and reclaimed ground now 

 cover what was then open ground or tidal mudflats. These 

 formed Tom Edward's favourite hunting-grounds. Here, or in 

 the Denburn, a stream now covered in, he used to find insects, 

 horse-leeches, and other creatures even more dreaded by his 

 neighbours. These creatures he was in the habit of bringing 

 home ; but they used to escape, and roused such wrath in those 

 whose houses they invaded, that he was forbidden to bring them 

 home ; and those that he brought were destroyed, and thrown out 

 of doors. Often he visited the woods and dens, e.g., Rubislaw 

 Den, in his search for nests or for rarities ; and whenever he could, 



