2U1 
luul Lucas Barrett (late Director of tlio Geological Survey of 
the West Indies). And my father speaks (in one of his letters) 
of the groat (and gratuitous) assistance ho had received “ almost 
continuously from Mr. Sharuiaii and Mr. Barrett. The sad death 
ot Mr. Barrett aifected him very much ; and in the ‘ Critic ’ of 
lehruary 1st, 18G3, lie writes: “Since the death of Edward Forbes, 
no British natumlist liad won such golden opinions, or raised such 
hopes of a brilliant future as the young and ardent spirit who thus 
mot with a sudden aiul untimely end.” ^Ir. Barrett was drowned off 
Jamaica, while dres.sed in a diving-suit, when only 25 years of age. 
Soon after ho entered the British IMuseuiu my father’s thoughts 
began to bo taken up with his ‘ Manual of the ^Mollusca,’ and it 
occu])icd the “unceasing attention” of his leisure hours for si.x 
years. The iirst part was published in 1851, the second in 1851, and 
the third in lb5G. Ihey were accompanied by twenty-four platc.s, 
engraved by ^Ir. J. W. Lowry ; and six hundred and three species 
were iigured, all ot which were previously drawn by the author. 
The general appearance of the work and of the plates was, however, 
untortunately much injured by the necessity of their being cut 
down to the size of the volumes in Weale’s Series. 
It was a work at once well received and adopted by all the 
leading Isaturalists at homo, and by many abroad. In his presi- 
dential address to the Linneau Society (18GG) Mr. Busk makes the 
following remarks in reference to it : — 
Ihis woik speedily took the very first rank among text-books on the 
subject and deservedly so, both by the lucidity of its arrangement, the 
amazing amount of correct information compressed into a small space, and 
tlie great amount of original matter contained in it. The Supplement, more 
especially, containing a detailed account of the geographical distribution of 
living Mollusca and of the distribution in time of the fossil forms is 
larticularly deserving of notice as a monument of tlie full and accurate 
information possessed by the author, and as one of the most useful 
compendiums of what is known on those subjects ever given to the world.” 
I might add the testimonies of many distinguished men, of 
Lyell, ^lantell, and others ; but two wiU suffice. 
Darwin writing on J une 3rd, 1856, says : “ I have just finished studying, with 
all the attention of which I am capable, your book. And I, for one, am deeply 
indebted to you for its publication, as 1 have not derived for years so much 
solid instniction and interest from any other book.” 
