155 



without the means of coining into contact with individuals having similar 

 objects in view I should lose a great advantage which I possess by a residence 

 in Europe. 



yd. And probably the most potent reason which induces me to decline is 

 that, having no nearer relations than a sister, with whom I have hitherto spent 

 my life, I believe that, without her compahy I could not in any way relish 

 India : and to endeavour to induce her to accompany me would, I conceive, be 

 to do her a great injustice, and therefore this matter has weighed with me 

 considerably in my decision. 



Taking these different circumstances into consideration, I feel constrained to 

 decHne your advantageous offer, which I would otherwise gladly have accepted. 



Should anything else occur in which you may think my services of value, I 

 shall be most happy to render myself available if it lies in my power to do so ; 

 and returning you many thanks for your kindness in thinking of me in this 

 matter, 



I remain, my dear Sir Henry, 



Yours truly, 



ROBT. HARKNESS. 



So Harkness remained amongst us, and it was well for us that 

 he did, for his stay here enabled him to still further follow up his 

 discoveries amongst the older rocks of the Basin of the Solway ; 

 which seem to have presented a more attractive field of research 

 than even their equivalent strata in the South of Ireland. 



Sir William Jardine was about this time interesting himself in 

 the study of the fossil footprints of the nondescript animals that 

 left their tracks upon the half-consolidated silt that, in New Red 

 times, formed the sand banks in the great inland sea then extending 

 over these parts. Harkness, also, was continuing his early work in 

 the same direction, and we find him in correspondence with Sir 

 William regarding the nature of some of the very singular impres- 

 sions and enclosures found in the New Red of Dumfries, and in 

 that of Edenside as well. Regarding some of these, which 

 Harkness evidently thought might represent the dermal scutes or 

 some other portions of the armour of one of the earlier forms of 

 crocodiles, we find Sir William writing from Jardine Hall, under 

 date 7th November, 1854, and expressing the doubt existing in his 

 own mind regarding the precise nature of many of these problem- 

 atical markings, and offering at the same time the suggestion that 



