30 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



seemed to have cleared up some intricate point and had 

 elaborated a careful definition of some special form of 

 tooth, characteristic of a particular group, a troublesome 

 exception would turn up, and we had to begin again and 

 try to discover something more reliable and constant. 

 In the afternoon we took long walks through the 

 grounds and park, and looked at the living deer and 

 other wild creatures which abounded there. The 

 sympathetic interest that Lady Brooke took in all 

 her husband's pursuits added much to the pleasure of 

 the visit. She encouraged him greatly in his scientific 

 studies, and never seemed so happy as in witnessing 

 the delight he took in them. 



In August 1878 the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science met at Dublin, and Sir Victor 

 Brooke took an active part in the work of Section D, 

 Biology, over which it was my lot to preside. He 

 read a paper on " Certain Osteological Characters in 

 the Cervidae, and their probable Bearings on the Past 

 History of the Group." The paper was not published, 

 but much of the information contained in it was after- 

 wards incorporated in a paper communicated to the 

 Zoological Society referred to presently. 



When the meeting was over, Professor and Mrs. 

 Huxley, my wife and I, went to Colebrooke and spent 

 a very agreeable week there. One morning Professor 

 Huxley gave us a demonstration of the anatomy of the 

 crayfish, from specimens fished out of the stream that 

 runs through the park. He was just then engaged in 

 preparing his well-known monograph on that creature, 

 and was naturally very much at home with it. Sir 

 Victor, Lady Brooke, and all the children formed most 

 attentive spectators and audience. Although our host 

 lost no opportunity of questioning the professor on 

 subjects of science, he also, in his turn, gave us much 



