78 Alexander Goodman More. [1355 



and while I was taking off my coat in walked Mr. Bell, 

 and to my intense surprise ipse Babington. Ray Club 

 flourishes ; Dons are becoming associate members ; inde 

 it has a chance of degenerating into a sociable don half 

 naturalist set ; and where are the undergraduates to go to ? 

 . . . Met Dr. Hooker, Mr. Yarrell, Mr. Syme, Pamplin,* 

 J. Salter, &c. A most interesting short Paper from Bell 

 on the Diving Spider. He had seen the animal collect and 

 carry down the air : does not believe in (nor does Babing- 

 ton) the foraging for oxygen too ' oxynous ' a notion 

 still, may not the oxygen, if really collected (as Mr. Gosse 

 said he had seen it to be), be used to restore the balance 

 of the gases, since the spider must use up some oxygen in 

 breathing, and therefore foul the air more or less." 



" December 2nd (Sunday). . . . Rested most of the day, 

 as by this time, what with one kind and another of exer- 

 tion, I have pretty much used up the vigour which I had 

 most certainly brought away from the fine bracing autum- 

 nal air of Tunbridge Wells. Hence I look to Castle Taylor 

 with more the feeling of a boy to the holidays and rest from 

 work than anything else. Lucky fellow that I am to have 

 such friends and such a second home." 



* Publisher of the "Phytologist," &c. 



