39 Alexander Goodman More. [i894 



CHAPTER LIU. 



" NOT GETTING BETTER/' 



[1894.] 



THE new year found him in his usual spirits, and except 

 that his letters show an increasing inclination towards 

 brevity, there is little to indicate that as 1894 went by, he 

 found himself growing gradually weaker. The same 

 alacrity in volunteering suggestions, as also in hammer- 

 ing at them and urging their adoption, shows itself as 

 of old : and not least in his correspondence with Mr. 

 Barrett-Hamilton. 



(April 5th, 1894.} Many thanks for your letter and all the news. I 

 am delighted to hear that dear old Babington is so well. Please 

 remember me very kindly to both himself and Mrs. Babington, and I 

 hope you will see a little more of them after you have taken your degree. 

 I enclose you two papers from the Royal Irish Academy, by which you 

 will see that you are likely to be a M.R.I. A. in the course of a few days. 

 . . . . The Circumpolar Fauna will be a very interesting subject if you 

 will take it up. Newton can give you no end of help. As I think I 

 said to you, all the Vertebrate animals should be included, and the 

 limits of trees are of no great consequence. I should just stick to the 

 Arctic circle for a limit. As you say in the " Zoologist," it would be 

 much better if all the different branches of Flora and Fauna of Ireland 

 could be traced through the same districts, and those of " CybeleHiber- 

 nica," which were first laid down by Prof. Babington, would do as well 

 as any others. We should then be able to compare the range of the 

 different Plants and Animals. In Scotland they have laid down a new 

 system of districts, quite different from those which H. C. Watson 

 adopted for plants, and the consequence is that there are now two sys- 

 tems in use, and nobody knows which to follow. Scharff has adopted 

 the twelve districts of " Cyb. Hib." for Mollusca, and I hope other 

 branches will be treated in the same way. For those who want smaller 

 subdivisions there are 37 counties laid down also by Babington. 



(April 24th, 1894.} I went to the Dog Show yesterday and saw a 

 good many Dachs, and was forcibly reminded of your prizes in this line ; 

 also of the Whales, which always seem to get stranded at this time of 

 year. I enclose you a form such as I should like to see adopted generally 



