WILLIAM STIMPSON 



129 



it did me, because he was a man of facts and not fancies. He 

 was puzzled by the transitional varieties between many of the 

 species of molluscs he was studying, especially those occurring 

 among the freshwater gasteropods. On one occasion I saw him 

 throw one of these vexatious shapes on the floor, after he had 

 studied it for a long time, put his heel upon it and grind it to 

 powder, remarking, "That's the proper way to serve a damned 

 transitional form." 



