CHAP. xvii. EXCHANGE OF SPECIMENS. 265 



friends are few, and I get on slowly. However, that 

 English gentleman spoke, not long ago, very kindly tc 

 me ; and if all goes well with him and me for a short 

 time, ' I'll cock my bonnet fu' braw.' He is a thorough 

 botanist." 



The English gentleman referred to was Mr. W. L. 

 Notcutt, then residing at Fakenham, Norfolk. He had 

 asked Dick to send him a collection of the Old Eed 

 fossils of Caithness ; offering his botanical services in 

 return. Dick cheerfully complied with his request, and 

 Mr. Notcutt acknowledges "most cordially his noble 

 suite of fossil fish from the Old Eed Sandstone." " There 

 are no fossils I more wished for," he says, " than some 

 specimens from your ancient strata, and your kindness 

 has indeed furnished me with a magnificent collection. 

 ... I fancy your creed in natural history is somewhat 

 akin to my own. I make very free in asking help from 

 brother naturalists, and I am never better pleased than 

 to be made quite as free use of in return. Indeed, I 

 think the very character of our pursuits almost claims 

 the free interchange of such help ; for, unless one is 

 possessed of an independent property, the amount of 

 travelling necessary for the examination of the produc- 

 tions or geological deposits of distant parts of our land 

 is otherwise an impossibility." 



Mr. Notcutt accordingly added largely to Eobert 

 Dick's botanical collection. He sent him additions from 

 year to year, until he had almost finally completed his 

 collection ; Dick, at the same time, furnishing him with 

 examples of the grasses and plants growing in the 

 county of Caithness. 



