LETTER TO SIR PHILIP EGERTON. 285 



my proofs were liable when the work was done 

 at Munich. ... I hope that my new publica- 

 tions will be sufficiently well received to jus- 

 tify me in supporting an establishment unique 

 of its kind, which I have founded solely in the 

 interest of science and at the risk of my peace 

 and my health. If I give you all these details, 

 it is simply to explain my silence, which was 

 caused not by pure negligence, but by the de- 

 mands of an undertaking in the success of 

 which my very existence is involved. . . . 

 This week I shall forward to the Secretary of 

 the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science all that I have been able to do 

 thus far, being unable to bring it myself, 

 as I had hoped. You would oblige me greatfy 

 if you would give a look at these different 

 works, which may, I hope, have various claims 

 on your interest. First, there is the tenth 

 number of the "Fossil Fishes," though the 

 whole supply of publisher's copies will only 

 be sent a few weeks later. Then there are 

 the seven first plates of my sea-urchins, en- 

 graved with much care and with many details. 

 A third series of plates relates to critical stud- 

 ies on fossil moUusks, little or erroneously 

 known, and on their internal casts. This is a 

 quite novel side of the study of shells, and 



