290 LATER YEARS 



of the Eoyal Medals of the Royal Society and the Gold 

 Medal of the Linnean Society. He also held the dis- 

 tinction of being a Vice-President of the Royal and 

 Zoological Societies. An old friend of his, and a friend 

 also of Darwin and of Wallace, wrote to him : — 



December 21, 1905. 



Dear Professor, 



I cannot refrain from sending you a line this 

 Christmas. I am now in my ninetieth year and may 

 never have another opportunity. Though I have not 

 had the pleasure of seeing you lately, I am always 

 hearing you spoken of and invariably with esteem and 

 regard. Every one honours Newton, and none more 

 sincerely than, 



Yours most truly, 



W. B. Tegetmeier. 



About the same time, November, 1905, he had a 

 bad fall in coming out of Hall ; it shook him seriously 

 and he was never the same again. But he did not give 

 up his work ; he was then finishing off the " Ootheca 

 Wolleyana," and he began already to make plans for 

 the future. 



It wUl indeed be a great pleasure to me to get this 

 [" Ootheca Wolleyana "] done, and if I only keep my life 

 and faculties I ought to be able to do it. Then there 

 is the Gare-fowl business to which I am pledged if 

 possible, and though that will mean a great deal of 

 work I am not without hope of managing. Beyond 

 that I dare not look ; but there are over 50 years' notes 

 on the " Bustard in Britain " to solace my second child- 

 hood, if that should come about. At any rate I am 

 not wanting in occupation if I live another ten years.* 



The last word of the " Ootheca " was written on 

 November 20, 1906, and the final part was published 



* Letter to G. B. H. Sarrett-Hamilton, September 27, 1905 , 



