Cellepora. 
Z. ASCIDIOIDA. 
275 
Millepora Skenei, Ellis and Soland. Zooph. 135. Turt. Gmel. iv. 635. 
Turt. Brit. Faun. 204. Stew. Elem. ii. 427 Cellepora palmata, 
Flem. Brit. Anim. 532. C. Skenei, Johnston in Trans. Newc. Soc. 
ii. 267 -L’Eschare palmee, Blainv. Actinol. 428. 
Hah. In deep water, attached to shells and corallines. Near Aber- 
deen, Skene. “ A single specimen from deep water, Zetland,” Flem- 
ing. Coasts of Northumberland and Berwickshire, not rare. 
Polypidom attached by a spreading base, calcareous, erect, from 
half an inch to an inch high, much compressed, divided in a palmate 
manner, the segments truncate, the surface very rough with the mu* 
cronate cells, which are immersed, arranged in regular rows, and have 
a roundish aperture guarded by a strong divaricate mucro, and in 
some of the cells there are one or two shorter spines at the base of 
this. From these spines being worn away the base of the polypidom 
his father and grandfather had been physicians of reputation ; and he soon be- 
came eminent in his own profession, as well as in literature and science. To 
Botany he was particularly devoted ; and he frequently herborized in company 
with Principal Campbell and Dr Reid, who were both fully aware of his merits. 
The former is said to have often lamented that his observations on plants had 
never been given to the world ; while Dr Reid, in a letter addressed to him, 
observes, regarding his extensive acquirements — ‘ But is it all to die with you, and 
to be buried in your grave ? This, my dear sir, ought not to be. Stultum est 
periturce parcere chartce. Can you find no time either when you are laid up in 
the gout, or when the rest of the world is in good health, to bequeath something 
to posterity? Think seriously of this.’ I find the same distinguished philoso- 
pher in another of his letters from Glasgow, urging the physician to present 
himself as a candidate for one of the medical chairs of that place, about to be- 
come vacant by the removal of Dr Black to Edinburgh, particularly as this 
might become a step towards the University of Edinburgh, to which Dr Reid 
thought his ambition should extend. Nor was this a mere partiality derived 
from previous personal intimacy ; for more than one seem to have been anxious 
that the Scottish metropolis should become Dr D. Skene’s place of abode. 
Thus Lord Kames, a frequent and attached correspondent, says in one of his 
letters (dated Blair Drummond, 11th January 1769,) ‘ I have a most hearty re- 
sentment at you for refusing the offer made you by Dr Hope, which would have 
settled you in the town of Edinburgh, much to your profit I am certain ; but 
no particulars till 1 see you in the Harvest circuit ;’ and in another, ‘ I wish from 
my heart to have you settled here, and cannot but regret a good opportunity you 
missed.’” Dr Skene was also the correspondent of Pennant, Ellis, Walker, 
and of Linnaeus, several of whose letters to him are still preserved. He died 
in December 1771, aged 36, leaving behind him numerous manuscripts ; and a 
museum, consisting of plants, minerals and shells, which might well have been 
called immense. Taking him all in all he was “ probably as extraordinary a man 
as the north of Scotland ever produced and it is hard to believe that, even 
in his native city, his name should now be entirely forgotten. See the “ North- 
ern Flora,” by Alexander Murray, M. D. pref. p. x. 
