BOTANICAL SOCIETY. 75 



in March 1846 a paper on the characters and anatomi- 

 cal structure of the Hypcroodon dalei, taken from a 

 specimen stranded during the autumn of 1845 near 

 Alloa; and in February 1847, on the Morphological 

 Constitution of the Skeleton in Sponges ; he and his 

 brother Harry read papers on the Metamorphoses of 

 Cancer Mcenas and Cancer Bernhardiis, with descrip- 

 tions of some species of Caprella in April 1842 ; and 

 on a new Crustaceous animal, Erineus splendens; and 

 on the Larvae of Balanus tintinnabidum in April 

 1843. The greater part of his researches in compara- 

 tive anatomy from 1840 to 1847, his description of 

 " the Natural Features of the Dornoch Firth," and his 

 observations " On the vast Accumulation of minute 

 Marine Animals which precede the appearance of a 

 Herring Shoal off the Isle of May," were laid before 

 the Wernerian Society. 



In the year 1840 he furnished his friend Mr. W. 

 Thompson with an account of the anatomy of Limnceus 

 involutus, which was printed in the Annals of Natural 

 History, vol. v. p. 23. 



His juvenile penchant for botany — of which no 

 mention has hitherto been made, as zoology, physic, and 

 palaeontology, had proved too absorbing studies in Fife 

 bo permit of its growth and expansion — became revived 

 by his residing in proximity to Arthur's Seat and the 

 Braid Bills, and in having the "Eoyal Botanical 

 Gardens" lying in the direction of the Firth of Forth. 

 Be joined the Edinburgh Botanical Society in 1841, 

 and became its secretary in I8li\ which office he held 



