92 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



and ferns, two families of which I made a 

 special study last summer. Twice a week 

 Karl Schimper lectures to us on the morphol- 

 ogy of plants ; a very interesting course on 

 a subject but little known. He has twelve 

 listeners. Agassiz is also to give us lectures 

 occasionally on Sundays upon the natural 

 history of fishes. You see there is enough 

 to do. . . . 



Somewhat before this, early in 1828, Agas- 

 siz had made the acquaintance of Mr. Joseph 

 Dinkel, an artist. A day spent together in 

 the country, in order that Mr. Dinkel might 

 draw a brilliantly colored trout from life, un- 

 der the immediate direction of the young 

 naturalist, led to a relation which continued 

 uninterruptedly for many years. Mr. Dinkel 

 afterward accompanied Agassiz, as his artist, 

 on repeated journeys, being constantly em- 

 ployed in making illustrations for the " Pois- 

 sons Fossiles " and the " Poissons d'Eau 

 Douce," as well as for his monographs and 

 smaller papers. The two larger works, the 

 latter of which remained unfinished, were even 

 now in embryo. Not only was Mr. Dinkel at 

 work upon the plates for the Fresh-Water 

 Fishes, but Mr. J. C. Weber, who was then 



