CELLEPORIP^E : CELLEPORA. 297 



3. C. SKENEI, much compressed, divided in a bifid manner, 

 rough ; cells rowed, with a strong mucro on the outer edge of 

 the round aperture. Dr. David Skene.* 



PLATE LIT. FIG. 6, 7, 8. 



Millepora Skenei, Ellis and Soland. Zooph. 135. Turt. Brit. Faun. 204. Stew. 

 Elem. ii. 427. Cellepora palmata, Flem. Brit. Anim. 532. C. Skenei, Johnston 

 in Trans. Newc. Soc. ii. 267. Couch Zooph. Cornw. 49 : Corn. Faun. iii. 111. W. 

 Thompson in Ann. Nat. Hist, xv, 322. 



Hob. In deep water, attached to shells and corallines. Near 

 Aberdeen, Skene. " A single specimen from deep water, Zetland," 

 Fleming. Coasts of Northumberland and Berwickshire, not rare. 

 "On stones and the Pinna ingens, off the Deadman, rare," R. Q. 

 Couch. Eastern coast of Ireland, Miss Ball. 



* " Dr. David Skene after a short time of study at Paris, in addition to the more 

 ordinary preparations settled as a medical practitioner in Aberdeen, where his 

 father and grandfather had been physicians of reputation : and he soon became emi- 

 nent in his own profession, as well as in literature and science. To Botany he was 

 particularly devoted ; and he frequently herborized in company with Principal 

 Campbell and Dr. Reid, who were both fully aware of his merits. The former is said 

 to have often lamented that his observations on plants had never been given to the 

 world ; while Dr. Reid, in a letter addressed to him, observes, regarding his extensive 

 acquirements' But is it all to die with you, and to be buried in your grave ? This, 

 ny dear sir, ought not to be. Stultum est periturte parcere charta. Can you find no 

 time either when you are laid up in the gout, or when the rest of the world is in good 

 health, to bequeath something to posterity? Think seriously of this.' I find the 

 same distinguished philosopher in another of his letters from Glasgow, urging the 

 physician to present himself as a candidate for one of the medical chairs of that place, 

 about to become vacant by the removal of Dr. Black to Edinburgh, particularly as 

 this might become a step towards the University of Edinburgh, to which Dr. Reid 

 thought his ambition should extend. Nor was this a mere partiality derived from 

 previous personal intimacy ; for more than one seem to have been anxious that the 

 Scottish metropolis should become Dr. D. Skene's place of abode. Thus Lord Kames, 

 a frequent and attached correspondent, says in one of his letters (dated Blair Drum- 

 mond, llth January, 1769,) ' I have a most hearty resentment at you for refusing 

 the offer made you by Dr. Hope, which would have settled you in the town of Edin- 

 burgh, much to your profit I am certain ; but no particulars till I see you in the 

 Harvest circuit ; ' and in another, ' I wish from my heart to have you settled here, 

 and cannot but regret a good opportunity you missed.' " Dr. Skene was also the 

 correspondent of Pennant, Ellis, Walker, and of Linnaeus, several of whose letters to 

 him are still preserved. He died in December 1771, aged 36, leaving behind him 

 numerous manuscripts ; and a museum, consisting of plants, minerals and shells, 

 which might well have been called immense. Taking him all in all he was " pro- 

 bably as extraordinary a man as the north of Scotland ever produced ; " and it is 

 hard to believe that, even in his native city, his name should now be entirely for- 

 gotten. See the " Northern Flora," by Alexander Murray, M. D. pref. p. x. 



