LOUIS AGASSIZ. 335 



a zoological garden, with its tank for turtles and an 

 alligator, its cage for eagles, a tame bear, and a 

 family of opossums. Agassiz had already begun 

 his Museum of Comparative Zoology, on the banks 

 of the Charles River, in an old shanty. The out- 

 look was hopeful ; but he was sad at heart, for 

 Cecile, his wife, had died since he came to America, 

 and his children seemed too young to bring into a 

 home where there was no mother. 



In the summer of 1848, Agassiz organized an 

 expedition of students and naturalists for the 

 examination of the eastern and northern shores of 

 Lake Superior. At Niagara, he saw for the first 

 time a living garpike, the only representative 

 among modern fishes of the fossil type of Lepidos- 

 teus. He made a careful study of the fauna and 

 geology of the lake, and the results were published 

 in a book. Charles Darwin wrote, " I have seldom 

 been more deeply gratified than by receiving your 

 most kind present of ' Lake Superior.' ... I had 

 heard of it, and had much wished to read it, but I 

 confess it was the very great honor of having in my 

 possession a work with your autograph as a presen- 

 tation copy that has given me such lively and sin- 

 cere pleasure." 



Agassiz had published another book in America, 

 in 1848, "Principles of Zoology," which had a 

 large sale, and was much used in schools. In 1849, 

 his only son, fifteen years old, came to live with 

 his father. The following year, 1850, Agassiz mar- 

 ried Elizabeth Cabot Cary, of Boston, a cultivated 



