MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 67 
Much of his zoological work in the East was unfortunately never 
published, on account of the pressure of other duties in which 
he became absorbed on his return to London. 
The Council of the British Association gave him congratula- 
tions and encouragement, and the material support of a grant 
of £100, “to be expended in comparing the fauna of the 
Red Sea with that of the Mediterranean.” Forbes therefore 
planned an extended expedition to Egypt for this purpose, 
which was first postponed by his severe illness and then 
abandoned when he was recalled in October, 1842, to London 
to take up the duties of Professor of Botany at King’s College— 
a post he had been elected to in his absence. 
There were probably few men then, and there are none now, 
who could be elected to a post in Botany, in Geology, or in 
- Zoology with equal success. We see him now holding two 
such posts simultaneously, and he eventually went on to the 
third. His professorship at King’s College brought in less 
than £100 a year, so he had to supplement that scanty 
income by taking other work, and he applied for and was 
appointed to the Curatorship of the Geological Society, and 
a few years later (1844) to the more important post of 
Paleontologist to the Geological Survey. 
During the years in London when he filled these several 
posts, it is evident that his duties as Professor of Botany 
took up comparatively little of his time and energies, and 
that he was then, in fact, mainly a Geologist. He identified 
himself thoroughly and intimately with the members of the 
Geological Society and with his colleagues of the Geological 
Survey, with whom, of course, he was constantly working 
both in the field and at the Jermyn Street Museum. His 
work as Paleontologist was to identify the large numbers 
of fossils collected by the surveyors, and to give any information 
he could as to the conditions under which they had lived. - 
In all this work, which occupied some of the best years of his 
