CHAPTER XVI. 



THE LANCELET THE HEART- URCHIN THE SCOOP 

 DREDGE. 



IN addition to the many foraging expeditions which 

 he made, Mr. Robertson did much hard and solid 

 work in natural history at home, besides carrying on 

 a vigorous correspondence with various scientific men. 

 Writing on November 9, 1867, to Dr. Anton Dohrn, 

 who was then at Jena, he discusses with him some 

 of the peculiarities which distinguish the males and 

 females of the cumacea, and then observes : 



" I have nothing to say of myself, further than that 

 1 am working hard at the fossils of the clays. True, 

 they are laborious, tedious, and at times tantalizing, 

 with nothing to deal with but the dead, bare, dry 

 husks of the animals, yet even there the indefinite 

 variety of forms and figures gives an increasing desire 

 to know more and more of them." 



On the 27th of the same month he again writes, as 

 follows : 



"November 27, 1867. 



" MY DEAR DR. DOHRN, 



"We have received your very welcome 

 letter. It has thrown over our whole household that 



