FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA 27 



together with a crash, and in the confusion a few power- 

 ful strokes put him beyond their reach. 



In the late fall the Fauntleroy returned to San Fran- 

 cisco, where she was delayed a week or so off the Heads. 

 Again he filled his idle moments, and devoted himself 

 to the study of the Discophorous Medusae so common on 

 the coast. While in San Francisco he made in the bay 

 a collection of the Viviparous " Perch " (Embiotocidse), 

 first discovered by Mr. A. C. Jackson in 1852 when 

 exploring those waters in search of a suitable spot for 

 a naval station. Several dozen beautifully colored draw- 

 ings of a number of these "Perch," made by Agassiz 

 at the time, are still in existence, but have never been 

 published. 



As there was no work to be done by the Coast Sur- 

 vey during the winter, he obtained leave of absence to 

 accept an invitation of the superintendent of the Paci- 

 fic Mail Steamship Company to be his guest at Acapulco 

 and Panama. 



After a visit of some three months at Panama, Agas- 

 siz concluded that his humble post offered no immed- 

 iate prospect of marriage. So he sent in his resignation, 

 little dreaming that in after life he should refuse an 

 earnest request of the President of the United States to 

 accept the highest position in the Coast Survey. 



The call of heredity was in Agassiz' s blood; closing 

 his transit he made, straight as a homing pigeon, for his 

 father's Museum, which he ever afterwards made his 

 headquarters. 



