AT ST. ANTONIEN 221 



He writes from St. Antdnien, Switzerland : — 



We have been here just a fortnight, and have had our first 

 really fine day. If it goes on like it is now, we shall soon forget 

 all we have been through, and thoroughly enjoy the place, for it 

 is! most beautifully situated, with charming walks all round, and 

 quite comfortable enough within for all practical purposes ; all 

 new and clean, though plain, and the living is substantial and 

 abundant, and we are all getting well and strong. The principal 

 difficulty about the place, and what keeps it still in a primitive 

 condition (especially as to prices), is the difficulty of getting to 

 and from the station, 5 miles off. . . . Whenever the sun has 

 shone insects have been abundant, and I have nearly filled the 

 collecting box Austen provided me with. Will you send me out 

 another by return of post, if possible, and ask to have put inside 

 two or three small setting boards, suitable for diptera and beetles, 

 and also some more cardboard discs, for I have come to the end 

 of those I brought out, and I want them all to be alike ? I have 

 plenty of pins and everything else required. 



I suppose you have seen Mr. 's speech about our 



salaries, full of all the fallacies and ignorances of the subject 

 usually shown, and which has unfortunately not been answered. 

 But it gives a good opening for returning to the attack, which 

 must be taken up seriously before the estimates are sent in. . . . 

 But I must not go on about things which I ought (for a short 



time) to put off my mind. It was reading ~'s speech in 



the Times that set me on. . . . 



In January 1897, when the state of Flower's 

 health was becoming serious, he wrote from 

 Marazion : — 



My dear Fagan — I received the enclosed this morning from 

 Sir Edward Thompson, who asked me to send it on to you. As 

 far as I can make out, it corroborates your original idea that we are 

 to have no reductions,^ and that the Treasury have therefore been 

 very liberal to us. . . . It is satisfactory that our Purchase Grant 



' In the grant for the Museum. 



