266 EDWARD'S CORRESPONDENTS. CHAP. xni. 



asked him to exchange birds with them. Private 

 gentlemen offered exchanges of moths and butterflies. 

 Professors, who were making experiments on eggs, 

 requested contributions of eggs of all kinds. A 

 Naturalist in Norfolk desired to have a collection of 

 Sternums, or breast-bones, of birds. "I have no 

 doubt," says Edward, " that many of my correspond- 

 ents thought me unceevil, but really it would have 

 taken a fortune in postage-stamps to have answered 

 their letters." 



But although Edward received many applications 

 from Naturalists in different parts of the country, he 

 himself applied to others to furnish names for the 

 specimens which he had collected. We find a letter 

 from Mr. Macdonald, secretary to the Elgin Museum, 

 referring to eighty-five Zoophytes which Edward had 

 sent him to be named. Edward had no other method 

 of obtaining the scientific names for his objects. 

 "The naming of them," said Mr. Macdonald, "has 

 cost me some time and trouble. . . . Some of the 

 Zoophytes are fine specimens ; others are both fine 

 and rare. One or two have not as yet been met with 

 on our shores. They seem to be quite new." We 

 also find Edward communicating with Mr. H. T. 

 Stainton, a well-known London Naturalist, relative 

 to Moths, Butterflies, Beetles, and other insects. 



But Edward could not live on Zoophytes and 

 Butterflies. His increasing family demanded his at- 

 tention ; and shortly after his article on " The Birds 



