300 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



It is becoming very evident that the whole theory 

 is pretty complicated and coral reefs have done far less 

 work than they have been credited with, at least in the 

 Bahamas. 



My Reports on the Albatross Expedition of 1891 are 

 making fine progress and I hope to get out this year 

 ('9-4) the Holothuriaus and the Crustaceans. Both these 

 Memoirs will have colored Plates, giving a good idea of 

 the looks of many of these deep-sea beasts. Dr. Pelsener 

 wrote me the other day to ask for the Blake Spirula which 

 you sent back, and for the life of me it cannot be found, 

 it has been so admirably put away ! — by some zealous 

 person too orderly inclined. 



My youngest son has managed to become engaged to 

 a very charming girl from Philadelphia. I am somewhat 

 taken aback ; not having had any experience with daugh- 

 ters I hardly know how to behave. So far it 's a very 

 delightful experience. 



After his visit to the Bahamas it was natural that 

 Agassiz should turn his attention to the Bermudas ; 

 writing from Cambridge early in 1894, he says to Mur- 

 ray of this proposed visit : " So far I have managed to 

 stay here 'without any great detriment and am getting 

 fat on it. But the doctor does not think it very safe for 

 me to stay much longer, and by the middle of next 

 month I '11 make a visit to the Bermudas." 



He spent nearly a month there, examining the struc- 

 ture of the group and concluded that the Bermudas 

 offered an epitome, as it were, of the physical changes 

 undergone by the Bahamas. The following letter gives 

 an excellent idea of his views on the formation of this 

 region : — 



