376 THE NILSSON'S GOBY. CHAP. xvm. 



Only about a year ago, while turning over his 

 papers to find the letters referred to in the preceding 

 pages, he found the bottle containing the new fish at 

 the bottom of the box. How great was his delight ! 

 But what was he to do with it ? Mr. Couch was 

 dead, all his fish friends were dead, and he did not 

 know to whom to apply, to name the new fish. But 

 as he was about to proceed to Aberdeen to see Mr. 

 Keid, who was so kind as to offer to paint his portrait, 

 he took the fish with him. Mr. Eeid procured an 

 introduction for him, through Dean of Guild Walker, 

 to Professor Mcol of Marischal College. The Pro- 

 fessor did not at first recognise the fish, but on re- 

 ferring to his works on Ichthyology, he found that 

 it was a specimen of Mlsson's Goby, a species not 

 before known to have been taken in British seas. 



Notwithstanding the thousands of specimens and 

 the hundreds of cases that Edward had been obliged 

 to part with during his successive illnesses,* he has 

 still sixty cases filled with about two thousand speci- 

 mens of natural objects. During his lifetime he has 

 made about five hundred cases with no other tools 



* After parting with the greater part of his third collection in 

 1867, Dr. Gray of the British Museum wrote to him : "I wish I 

 had known that you had one or more collections to dispose of, as I 

 should have "been very glad to have purchased specimens of the 

 Mollusca, Annelids, Star-fish, Holothurea, Echina, and small fishes^ 

 of the coast of Banffshire, as I like to get specimens from the differ- 

 ent parts of the coast. Should you have any more, please let me 

 know." But the request came too late. 



