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IN MEMORIAM—DAVID ROBERTSON. 33 
indicated on specimens in Mr. Robertson’s collection, but attached 
the latter’s name to the list. As the catalogue which had thus 
been submitted in Mr. Robertson’s name contained omissions and 
inaccuracies for which he was in no way responsible, a corrected 
list was afterwards compiled by him and published by the Field 
Naturalists’ Society, with a suitable apology for the error to 
which the Society had been an involuntary party. 
In the years between 1877 and 1880, visits were made by Mr. 
and Mrs. Robertson to North Wales, Peebles, and the Hebrides. 
With the latter year commenced.a period of domestic troubles and 
bereavements. He himself suffered from illness ; his elder son’s 
wife died in 1880; in 1881 Mrs. Robertson had several attacks of 
severe illness ; while in 1882 the younger son also lost his wife, 
and was left with three very young children. 
The Marine Biological Station at Granton was established in 
1884, under the supervision of Dr. John Murray, of the Challenger 
Commission. In the following year the steam yacht Medusa, 
which had been specially fitted up for marine research, was taken 
to Glasgow for repairs, and the occasion was regarded as a favour- 
able opportunity for investigating the fauna of the waters around 
Cumbrae and Arran. The cruise of the Medusa in the Firth of 
Clyde is thus chronicled in the Report of the Granton Station :— 
‘Tn March, 1885, a second visit has been made to the west coast. 
Dredging operations were conducted for a period of six days by 
Mr. Henderson,* and Mr. F. G. Pearcey, of the Challenger Com- 
mission, in Loch Long, round Cumbrae, and in Rothesay and 
-Lamlash Bays. On three days they were accompanied by Mr. 
David Robertson, of Glasgow, the well-known Clyde naturalist, 
and to his kind assistance and guidance the short trip owed much 
of its success. Many rare and interesting animals were procured, 
not a few of which are unknown on the east coast, thus suggesting 
some interesting distributional problems. It is hoped that the 
foundation of a branch of the Scottish Marine Station on the Clyde 
will lead to an accurate comparison of the faunz and florz of the 
two estuaries, and, in this way, clear up some obscure points in our 
knowledge of the distribution of British marine animals and plants.” 
Immediately after the departure of the Medusa, Mr. Robertson 
wrote to his friend Dr. John Grieve as follows :—‘ Mr. Murray 
* Now Professor of Biology in the Christian College, Madras, 
Cc 
