92 GEOEGE JOHN EOMANES I88O- 



a few words with all becoming humility, and then. 

 Sir William summed up. 



Here is an affectionate outburst to his mother, 

 written about this time : 



' When thou art feeble, old, and grey, 

 My healthy arm shall be thy stay, 

 My mother.' 



When. But you are not yet either so feeble, old, 

 or grey as to make me imagine that you have lost a 

 needful prop in the absence of your ' peerless son ! ' 

 And I am sure you are not more proud of him than 

 he is of you. With your eyes as bright as the bright 

 starlight, and your face as ruddy as the morning, I 

 am glad you are my mother. 



In 1881 Mr. Komanes was at Garvock, Perth- 

 shire. And he was for a short time also at Oban, 

 working with his friend Professor Ewart on McMno- 

 dermata, and their joint paper was made the ' Croonian 

 Lecture.' ^ 



This was the last bit of work on marine zoology, 

 excepting a trifling research on the smelling power 

 of anemones, at which he worked with Mr. Walter 

 Herries Pollock, who had been tempted to make a 

 temporary excursion from the paths of literature into 

 the walks of science. They contributed a joint paper 

 to the Linnean Society on indications of smell in 

 Actinia, and it is greatly to be feared, such is the 

 frivolity of literary men, that Mr. Pollock regarded 

 the whole affair as a very good joke. 



The following letters describe the work of the 

 years 1880 and 1881. The summer of 1879 and 

 1880 had been spent at Westfield. 



' His book entitled ' Jelly-Fish, Star-Fish, and Sea Urchins,' gives a 

 full account of Mr. Romanes' researches on these primitive nervous systems. 



