I 



MAEINE ZOOLOGY 113 



be judged very leniently. I have endeavoured to be care- 

 ful, and when the motion of the ship is such that my things 

 have to be lashed to the table and I have to balance myself 

 to examine anything under the microscope I fear many 

 errors have crept in. . . . 



To his Father 



August 24, 1841. 



Much do I wish that I had opportunity to devote myself 

 entirely to collecting plants and studying them, but I want 

 you to know how I am situated, that we are comparatively 

 seldom off the sea, and then in the most unpropitious seasons 

 for travelHng or collecting. This is my main reason for 

 devoting my time to the Crustaceae, &c., a study to which 

 I am not attached, and which I have no intention of sticking 

 to. My other reasons are that there is no one else to study 

 what there will be no other opportunity in all probability 

 of seeing alive, and the ready use of the pencil is indispensable 

 to the subject. Again, the discoveries we have hitherto 

 made are not only beautiful but most wonderful, curious 

 and novel. The collection is almost all of my own making 

 and Capt. Boss's (altogether indeed). No other vessel or 

 collector can ever enjoy the opportunities of constant 

 sounding and dredging and the use of the Towing-net that 

 we do, nor is it probable that any future collector will have 

 a Captain so devoted to the cause of Marine zoology, and 

 so constantly on the alert to snatch the most trifling oppor- 

 tunities of adding to the collection, and lastly, it is my 

 only means of improving the expedition much to my own 

 advantage (as far as fame goes) or to the public, for whom 

 I am bound to use my best endeavours. I again repeat 

 that I have no intention of prosecuting the study further 

 than I think myself in duty bound. In harbour I only 

 collect them with Seaweeds, and never draw or do anything 

 but stow them away ; and as for [when I am] at sea, I hope 

 the notes and drawings I sent home will show that I do not 

 neglect Botany, nay, that I have spent as much time, as 

 the heavy seas and bad weather of 70° S., would allow me 

 to plants and mosses. All this renders me most anxious 

 to see the termination of the voyage, for I have no wish but 

 to continue at Plants. Not that I am anything but extremely 



