1843-44 THE OLD THATCHED HOUSE 227 
appear to be undeniable ; and then the conversa- 
tion merged into who now in England would be 
nearest the throne through the Tudors, when 
the Duke of Buckingham, through his mother, 
direct from Harry VIL, was held to be the 
personage. ... At half-past ten we broke up.’ 
It was in this year that Owen began his work 
"now regarded as a classic — on ‘ British Fossil 
Mammalia.’ He originally intended to bring it 
Out in monthly parts, but finally determined, 
noting upon Charles Lyell’s advice, to issue it 
overy two months. An entry in the diary states : 
‘Mr. Van Voorst has agreed to the proposal 
Suggested by Mr. Lyell to bring the work out 
every two months instead of one. Mr. Lyell 
further said that one would have quite enough to 
do to get the first number into one’s head in the 
f'vo months’ time, let alone one ; that it certainly 
^ns so as far as he was concerned.’ 
With regard to the first number, Owen re- 
^^ived the following letter from Dr. H. Falconer : — 
February 3, 1844. 
My dear Owen, — I have seen the first num- 
of your “ Fossil British Mammalia.” You 
the Magnus Apollo in these matters — a whale 
^uiong the minnows — and those who come after 
you .yyj]] your authority on trust, without 
Perhaps thinking it necessary to refer to the 
’^*'*ginals in matters referring either to structure 
