COLLECTIONS. 2/3 



years and two days." He wrote to Fox : " You cannot 

 imagine how gloriously delightful my first visit was at home ; 

 it was worth the banishment." But it was a pleasure that 

 he could not long enjoy, for in the last days of October he 

 was at Greenwich unpacking specimens from the Beagle. As 

 to the destination of the collections he writes, somewhat 

 despondingly, to Henslow : 



" I have not made much progress with the great men. 

 I find, as you told me, that they are all overwhelmed with 

 their own business. Mr. Lyell has entered, in the most 

 good-natured manner, and almost without being asked, into 

 all my plans. He tells me, however, the same story, that 

 I must do all myself. Mr. Owen seems anxious to dissect 

 some of the animals in spirits, and, besides these two, I have 

 scarcely met any one who seems to wish to possess any of 

 my specimens. I must except Dr. Grant, who is willing 

 to examine some of the corallines. I see it is quite un- 

 reasonable to hope for a minute that any man will undertake 

 the examination of a whole order. It is clear the collectors 

 so much outnumber the real naturalists that the latter have 

 no time to spare. 



" I do not even find that the Collections care for receiving 

 the unnamed specimens. The Zoological Museum * is nearly 

 full, and upwards of a thousand specimens remain unmounted. 

 I dare say the British Museum would receive them, but I 

 cannot feel, from all I hear, any great respect even for the 

 present state of that establishment. Your plan will be not 

 only the best, but the only one, namely, to come down to 

 Cambridge, arrange and group together the different families, 

 and then wait till people, who are already working in different 

 branches, may want specimens. But it appears to me [that] 

 to do this it will be almost necessary to reside in London. As 

 far as I can yet see my best plan will be to spend several 



* The Museum of the Zoological The collection was some years later 

 Society, then at 33 Bruton Street. broken up and dispersed. 



