1895-] AN ENTOMOLOGICAL EXPERT 281 



your brother/ and with your grief, and also the effects of 

 the long hard run of work, you must be greatly needing 

 a rest. 



I hope and greatly desire to continue all my work, Home, 

 Colonial, and publishing ; also to act as referee to our 

 Agricultural Journals just as before, but it is much more 

 comfortable working up important points, to having ever- 

 lastingly to be going over a routine often keeping one from 

 attending to what may be of importance. Who will they 

 get to take my place [at the Royal] ? It seems to me a 

 great pity that there is not a properly paid and competent 

 officer for the Board of Agriculture and R.A.S.E. I am 

 safe in saying this, for I never intend to take office again, 

 not for any amount of money that could be offered, neither 

 do I mean to do the work of Government or Society under 

 the polite name of " kindly co-operating ! " 



The only person I know who appears to me to be quali- 

 fied to take the post at the Royal Agricultural Society is Dr. 

 Fream, and I conjecture that his hands are much too full to 

 allow it. Still I should be glad if it were so. Professor 

 Harker has great knowledge of beetles, and indeed, I believe, 

 of insect ways and customs generally, but I should scarcely 

 think his tastes would lead him to this sort of work. 

 However I have not the least idea what the R.A.S.E. proposes 

 to do. 



March 15, 1895. 



As the time of your African trip is drawing near, I am 

 just venturing to remind you, with what pleasure (if con- 

 sistent with your own convenience) we would see you 

 before you go. There appears to me to be a Gordian knot, 

 and a few words (spoken not written) sometimes are in- 

 valuable on these occasions. I am pulling well with the 

 European centres, but there are places where, much as I 

 regret it, co-operation is not going on, and I think I might 

 very likely get, as on a previous occasion, some most useful 

 advice from yourself. 



April 9, 1895. 



I am very sorry and disappointed to say that I am ailing 

 and so I do not know w r hether in your own hardly run 

 time, you would care (or could at all spare the while) to 

 run down for an hour or two on Thursday. The special 

 trouble is that lately a very small bit of glass jerked up 

 from something I was doing at my right eye. I thought it 



1 Quintin MacAdam Wallace, M.A., a Graduate (ist Class Honours) 

 in Medicine and Surgery of Edinburgh University. 



