A Wasp on a Window. 337 



" He said that it was neither like a mouse nor a rat ; 

 it was long and thin. 



" ' H|ow long,' I inquired, ' and how thick ? ' 



" * No longer than my finger, and no thicker than a 

 straw,' he said. 



" That solved the question and left no doubt on my 

 mind that it was one of the large dragon flies that he 

 had conjured into a flying serpent." 



Conversation with Mr. Robertson must always have 

 been interesting, as it still is, from his habit of noticing 

 and reflecting upon many of the little incidents in 

 nature that ordinary eyes pass over as not being 

 worth a thought. Thus quite recently, when a friend 

 happened to be showing him a fine wasps' nest, he 

 took occasion to remark that a wasp upon a window- 

 pane is " bamboozled." You can catch it with com- 

 paratively little difficulty. The circumstances are new 

 and strange to it. The common house-fly in the same 

 position dodges the attempts to capture it and laughs 

 you to scorn. While hearing him speak to this effect, 

 I could not help thinking that almost every one would 

 be sensible of the justness of his remarks, but that, 

 however obvious and simple they may be, there are 

 probably few persons who have independently made 

 and reasoned them out. 



In the year 1885, much to Mr. Robertson's satis- 

 faction, the conspicuous merits of Millport as a station 

 for observations in marine natural history, were ac- 

 knowledged in a very public manner. In March of 

 that year, he thus writes to his friend, Dr. Grieve . 



"Your welcome letter came duly to hand. I was 

 hindered from writing to you sooner, because I was 



Z 



