242 Notes and Conimenis. 



went, quite as a matter of course, to fetch a bill-hook which 

 was at hand, and, putting his foot on a log of wood, chopped 

 off the end of his long toe, and drew on the boot ! ' 



A SEAL STORY. 



In the Shetlands young seals are sometimes kept as pets. 

 One of these came to the house of a fisherman for company, 

 for warmth, and for food. Eventually it grew, was too big for 

 a pet, and was troublesome to the children. ' The fisherman, 

 sad at heart, took it with him in his boat, far away to the 

 fishing-ground, and threw it overboard. Some days later, when 

 the family were at supper, rather dismal at the loss of their 

 old friend, they heard the familiar sound of scuffling and scratch- 

 ing, and on opening the door, in flopped the seal ! ' 



AN IMPRESSION. 



Whilst photographing lunatics, one of them, who thought 

 himself to be Alexander the Great, was annoyed at not being 

 photographed the first. ' When the photographer had his 

 head well under the velvet cloth, with his body bent in the 

 familiar attitude of photographers, whilst focusing, Alexander 

 the Great slid swiftly to his rear, and administered a really 

 good bite to the unprotected hinder end of the poor photo- 

 grapher, whose scared face emerging from under the velvet 

 cloth rises vividly in my memory as I write this. The photo- 

 grapher guarded his rear afterwards by posting himself in a 

 corner of the room.' There are many other ' impressions ' in 

 these ' Memories ' ! 



THE DARWIN CELEBRATIONS AT 'CAMBRIDGE. 



At the Darwin celebrations at Cambridge on June 22nd, 

 each delegate from the Universities and learned societies was 

 presented with a most useful and appropriate memento of 

 the occasion. This took the form of ' The Foundations of the 

 Origin of Species,' a sketch written in 1842 by Charles Darwin, 

 dan edited by his son, Francis Darwin. This most valuable docu- 

 ment accidentally came to light when the house at Down was 

 vacated on Mrs. Darwin's death. Mr. Francis Darwin tells 

 us that when he was at work upon ' Lije and, Letter s^,' he had 

 not seen it. ' The MS. was hidden in a cupboard under the 

 stairs, which was not used for papers of any value, but rather 

 as an overflow for matter which he did not wish to destroy.' 

 This historic document has been printed by the Syndics of 

 the University Press, and, together with the Editor's intro- 



Waturalist, 



