MURRAY: ALEXANDER AGASSIZ. 



143 



by the principal writers on the subject during the nineteenth century 

 thus passed through his hands and were critically compared with 

 specimens from the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge 

 and from the recent deep-sea expeditions. A few extracts from his 

 own letters will best indicate his progress, occupations, and impres- 

 sions during this visit to Europe. 



Wyville Thomson had written to Agassiz after his visit to Belfast 

 that he had lost or mislaid some deep-sea specimen, and Agassiz, 

 jocularly, replied from London, assuring him that he had "taken 

 nothing away from Ireland except a bad cold." 



From Copenhagen he writes to Wyville Thomson : — " What a 

 pleasant place this is ! My wife wishes me to send her kindest regards 

 to Mrs. Thomson and yourself. I am here after a most successful 

 trip through Germany, and am on my way to Stockholm. By the 

 time I get through, we shall have been in every place where there is 

 anything to be seen in the way of type Echinoderms. I am getting 

 on famously as far as the material for the Echini catalogue is con- 

 cerned. In Berlin I saw many nice things from Japan. I am just 

 finishing the Echinoids here with Lutken, who is a most charming 

 fellow..." 



From Switzerland (Leuk, August 8th, 1870) he writes : — " I have 

 done now with my examination of the Echini collections, having now 

 seen them all, and I hope I shall not be prevented from getting out my 

 catalogue very rapidly after my return home." 



From Lausanne (August 23rd, 1870) he again writes to Wyville 

 Thomson : — " We have just come back from a charming trip to the 

 mountains, had pleasant weather the whole time, besides doing us all 

 a great deal of good. I am happy to say I am now picking up fast, 

 and if I keep up at the present rate trust to be perfectly well this fall 

 when I go home. We hope to be in London last part of October. 

 We sail 8th November, and I shall manage if possible to take a run to 

 Belfast and see what you have got (that is from the "Porcupine" 

 Expedition.) ... .1 hope you will have the best of luck on your new 

 trip, and find something more astounding than Rhizocrinus, Pour- 

 talesia, or Calveria. Mrs. Agassiz wishes me to thank you very much 

 for your kind invitation, and to send her kindest remembrances to 

 yourself and Mrs. Thomson." 



Here are some extracts from his letters immediately after his arrival 

 at home : — 



"We had a capital passage; except two days when it was rough, 

 it was quite pleasant, the whole not lasting more than a little over 



