i86o-6i letter FROM CHARLES KINGSLEY loi 
them from me as being the best specimens I ob- 
tained, upon the Prince Consort’s suggestion on 
the occasion of your last lecture, of which series I 
shall always retain the most agreeable recollec- 
tion. 
‘ Y ours truly, 
‘ Alfred.’ 
Amongst Professor Owen’s correspondence 
there remains, unfortunately, but little record of 
his intimacy with Charles Kingsley, beyond let- 
ters from the latter asking for appointments to go 
round the Museum. The following letter, received 
in the April of this year, is perhaps the most cha- 
racteristic : — 
Eversley : April 30, i860. 
‘ My dear Professor Owen,— I have got a 
tvonder for you, which has opened my eyes so 
tvide that I cannot shut them again — an adder 
^ith two hind legs. They are one-half to three- 
quarters of an inch long, just behind the vent 
(like a tortoise’s in form, but with irregular fangs 
or prickles, instead of nails). I only describe it 
roughly, because I don’t like to cut it or finger it, 
but leave that for you. I suppose you would 
^ish to have him and trace his “ morphology.” 
1 have put him in spirits, and will send him up. 
biis slayers say he stood bolt upright on the 
Said legs and his tail “ like a Christian,” and sprang 
them, which he may well have done. I can 
