FOSSIL FISHES AGAIN. 359 



and rice soup. As early as the end of July 

 we were caught for three days by the snow ; I 

 fear I shall be forced to break up our encamp- 

 ment next week without having finished my 

 work. What a contrast between this life and 

 that of the plain ! I am afraid my letter may 

 be long on the road before reaching the mail, 

 and I pause here that I may not miss the 

 chance of forwarding it by a man who has 

 just arrived with provisions and is about to 

 return to the hospice of the Grimsel, where 

 some trustworthy guide will undertake to de- 

 liver it at the first post-office. 



No sooner is Agassiz returned from the 

 glacier than we meet him again in the do- 

 main of his fossil fishes. 



LOUIS AGASSIZ TO SIR PHILIP EGERTON. 



Neuchatel, December 15, 1842. 

 ... In the last few months I have made 

 an important step in the identification of fos- 

 sil fishes. The happy idea occurred to me of 

 applying the microscope to the study of frag- 

 ments of their bones, especially those of the 

 head, and I have found in their structure 

 modifications as remarkable and as numerous 

 as those which Mr. Owen discovered in the 



