ii4 REMINISCENCES OF 



amongst a mass of other papers some documents 

 that appeared to belong to me, and wishing to know 

 what they must do with them. They were soon sent 

 to me; but, sick and weary of the whole affair, I thrust 

 the packet into a drawer and almost forgot its 

 existence. In the autumn of 1867 I saw a short 

 paragraph in the Athenceum, announcing that 

 Mr. Carruthers of the British Museum was engaged 

 upon the study of the British Fossil Cycadeae, and 

 would be much obliged for the receipt of any infor- 

 mation on the subject that could be supplied to him. 

 Though not knowing Mr. Carruthers personally, I 

 wrote telling him of my unfortunate memoir, and 

 offering to place text and plates at his disposal, to be 

 used in any way that he might think fit. In reply, 

 he informed me that he would shortly be passing 

 through Manchester and would call upon me. He 

 did so, and I gave all my documents unreservedly 

 into his hands. He then informed me that he was 

 on his way to Scarborough and Whitby to study the 

 very objects described and figured on my memoir, 

 and now to his surprise found that I was engaged 

 upon the work that he had contemplated doing. He 

 further informed me that he had obtained a grant 

 from the Linnaean Society in aid of the investigation ; 

 and that if I placed my memoir in his hands he 

 would undertake that it should be published along 

 with his own, without my having any further 

 trouble. All this was done, and amongst other 

 Cycadean genera that Mr. Carruthers was creating, 



