CHAP. xvi. BEST AUTHORITIES MISTAKEN. 347 



and the Naturalist, and at other times in the 

 Banffshire Journal. He also endeavoured to secure 

 as many specimens as possible for the Banff Museum, 

 of which he was curator. 



When Edward informed Mr. Couch of the strug- 

 gles and difficulties he had to encounter in the 

 formation of a museum, the latter replied : " I can 

 sympathise with you, with a smile, at your annoy- 

 ances and disappointments as regards your attempts 

 at a museum ; but a real love of nature, and even a 

 wish for anything beyond a very slight acquaintance 

 with it, are rare ; and can scarcely be infused into 

 any one not naturally endued with so great a bless- 

 ing. With your museum there ought to be a col- 

 lection of books on Natural History. . . What 

 you say about the new Midge reminds me of what 

 occurred when I first announced the discovery of the 

 Mackerel Midge. A paper on it was read before the 

 Linnean Society, but they hesitated to publish it 

 thinking, I believe, as in the present case that the 

 fish was a young condition of some other known 

 species. . . There is much in the internal structure 

 of fishes that is not known generally, but which can 

 only be ascertained by dissection. In fact, the riches 

 of nature are inexhaustible ; but if we cannot dis- 

 cover all, there is no reason why we should not 

 continue our search after more of them. The most 

 unsatisfactory part of the subject is, to find how 

 greatly in some instances our best authorities are 

 mistaken." 



