98 THE ACCLIMATISATION 



most complete investigation of all the evi- 

 dence bearing upon it. The late Dr. E. 

 Gray advanced a claim on behalf of the late 

 Dr. John Davy, as the author of the moss 

 and ice transport plan. Much of the con- 

 troversy was carried on in the AtliencBum, 

 in February and March, 1866. It seems 

 that Dr. Gray was misled by a report in a 

 colonial newspaper, the writer of which made 

 many erroneous statements of facts, in 

 ignorance that those facts had already been 

 published in an accurate form. Mr. Youl 

 could not have borrowed his idea from 

 Dr. Davy, for they never met nor ever had 

 any communication whatever. Subsequently 

 this claim was abandoned by Dr. Gray in a 

 letter to Mr. Youl, which he wrote in the 

 presence of the latter, giving full permission 

 for its publication. This letter was sent to 

 Mr. E. A. Watts, then editor of the Mel- 

 bourne Argus, and its substance was em- 

 bodied in letters by Mr. Watts to the 

 Athenceum of the above date. After this 

 complete disavowal of Dr. Davy's claim, it 

 is greatly to be regretted that Dr. Gray 



