WYVILLE THOMSON 51 



where I had frequently to help him in the editing of the 

 first few volumes of reports, or by taking some of his 

 more energetic distinguished guests out for a walk round the 

 countryside, listening rather awe-struck to their wonderful 

 conversation (it was frequently a monologue, and I believe I 

 acquired merit as a good listener), there were : that veteran 

 of science. Dr. W. B. Carpenter, Professor Huxley, Moseley, 

 Hubrecht, Ernst Haeckel, Alexander Agassiz, Mcintosh, 

 Percy Sladen, the Abbe Renard, Hjalmar Theel, Sir WilUam 

 Turner, Canon Norman, Professor P. G. Tait, Hoek, Perceval 

 Wright, and a number of younger men who have since 

 attained distinction, but were then just launched on a 

 scientific career. During that time the distribution of many 

 of the groups of animals to specialists, and the form in which 

 the reports were to be published, was being decided on, and 

 many interesting details had to be arranged between Sir 

 Wyville and his " Reporters " on the one hand, and the 

 Stationery Ofiice of the Government (which undertook the 

 publication) on the other, the latter seeming to have great 

 difficulty in understanding the cmious requirements of 

 scientific authors in regard to printing and illustration. 



During this time at home Sir Wyville published (Macmillan 

 & Co., London, 1877) his preliminary account of the general 

 results of the expedition, in two volumes, entitled Voyage of 

 the " Challenger " — The Atlantic, which were to have been 

 followed by companion volumes on the Pacific that, unfor- 

 tunately, never appeared. The Atlantic is a most readable 

 work, full of observations on the botany, geology and 

 antiquities of the places visited as well as on the marine 

 biology and general oceanography of the cruise. A notable 

 feature of the book is the series of really beautiful text- 

 figures illustrating the new species of Echinodermata and 

 Sponges, which Professor Thomson had to some extent 

 investigated during the voyage, and which he briefly described 

 in these two volumes. Some of the figures of Holothurians, 

 Sea-urchins and Starfishes show interesting cases of " direct 



